rig

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪɡ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English riggen,^[2][3] originally a nautical word of obscure origin,^[4] probably from a Scandinavian source,^[2][4][3][5] compare Danish rigge (“to equip”), Norwegian rigge and Swedish rigga (“to rig, harness”),^[2][4] though these may themselves be from English.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fit a ship with masts, sails and ropes: about 1489, in Caxton's translation of Blanchardyn and Eglantine, in Barnhart, the late 15th century in Etymonline.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Rigging is from 1594.^[2] To dress or fit out with something is by the 1590s,^[4] and to set in working order by the 1620s.^[4] The noun, the arrangement of a ship's masts and sails, is from 1822,^[2][4] clothing or costume from 1843 (in Tom Brown's School Days, 1857),^[4][2] a horse-drawn vehicle from 1831, a truck from 1851, and drilling apparatus for wells from 1875.^[4] The slang sense, to arrange results fraudulently, as rig an election, is attested from 1938, perhaps from a different word, rig, a trick or swindle (1775), earlier sport or ridicule (1725), of unknown origin;^[4][5] to rig the market was a 19th-century stock-exchange phrase.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1489 – to rig a ship.^[2]
• 1594 – rigging.^[2]
• 1725 – rig, banter (noun).^[4]
• 1822 – the rig of a ship.^[2][4]
• 1851 – a truck.^[4]
• 1938 – to rig, fix results.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To fit a ship with sails, masts and rigging.
2. To set up or put together, especially quickly or makeshift: rig up a shelter.
3. To manipulate dishonestly: rig an election.
4. To dress or fit out.

Noun

1. The arrangement of masts and sails on a sailing vessel.
2. Equipment for a particular purpose, especially an oil rig.
3. (US) A truck or tractor-trailer.

Word family

• jury-rig
• rigger
• unrig
• thimblerig
• Bermuda rig
• drill rig
• gaff rig
• Marconi rig

Related words

• rigging
• ridge

Usage notes

In northern dialect a different rig, from Old English hrycg, means a ridge, back or strip of ploughed land (compare ridge).^[3][6][7] Trench notes that a rig was once a wanton person rather than a feat, as in Cowper's John Gilpin (running such a rig).^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker