Forum: Author Hangout

From "Word of the day"
Feb 21, 2025

jactation

PRONUNCIATION:
(jak-TAY-shuhn)

MEANING:
noun:
1. Boasting.
2. Involuntary bodily movements, such as tossing or twitching.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin jactation (tossing, boasting), from jactare (to throw, boast), frequentative of jacere (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1576. Also spelled as jactitation.

USAGE:
"The girls from the legal pools and the courthouse clerks stood out on the sidewalks [and] engaged in conceited jactation ... Most of the talk had little to do with actual facts."
Patricia Hickman; Katrina's Wings; Five Star; 2002.

jactation

My COD dictionary lists 'jactitation' as an expressive expansion of the older 'jactation' (which isn't listed) from the Latin 'jactare', to throw. Google returns both - a Ngram would be interesting. The game of 'jacks' might originate from 'jactare' since it involves throwing.

My COD doesn't give an etymology for 'jacking off' but I suspect it has different origins. 'Jilling off' isn't even listed. :-(

AJ

From https://www.etymonline.com/word/jerk%20off
jerk off (v.)
slang, "perform male masturbation," by 1896, from jerk (v.) denoting rapid pulling motion + off (adv.). Compare come off "experience orgasm" (17c.). Farmer and Henley ("Slang and Its Analogues") also lists as synonyms jerk (one's) jelly and jerk (one's) juice. The noun jerk off or jerkoff as an emphatic form of jerk (n.2) is attested by 1968. As an adjective from 1957.

But I like this one:

"Jacking" alluded to the old car bumper jacks that jerkily moved up, like a guy's penis does as he gets an erection and it jerkily rises up. So jacking off is likely more used by us older guys.