doojigger, n. U.S. colloq.
(ˈduːdʒɪgə(r))
Also dojigger, do-jigger, doo-jigger.
[f. doodad n. + jigger n.1 5 l.]
A small object or (esp. mechanical) contrivance; a gadget or ‘thingummy’.
| 1927, etc. in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 174/1 Doojigger. 1932 W. A. Rukeyser Working for Soviets ix. 116 Here were the true provincial types..Mongols, Tartars,..a Chinese selling little do-jiggers made of colored papers. 1938 ‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts iv. 65 Since you don't ascribe any significance to these doojiggers, surely you won't mind if I appropriate them? 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §75/4 ‘Gadget’..dojigger. 1953 S. Bellow Adventures A. March xvi. 345 It certainly was odd what mechanisms you saw all over Mexico..British and Belgian doo-jiggers, Manchester trolleys or poodle locomotives. 1966 T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 iv. 97 The extra little doojigger sort of coming out of the bell. 1976 New Yorker 26 Apr. 60/2 To her sweetly serene public matronliness she would add this aura of romance... I'm not sure she meant it—it was just a bargaining do-jigger. |