juggle
/ˈd͡ʒʌɡəl/ verb, noun
Forms juggles juggling juggled
- verb To manipulate objects, such as balls, clubs, beanbags, rings, etc. in an artful or artistic manner. “She can juggle flaming torches.”
- verb (dated, intransitive) To perform various magic tricks or circus skills such as the diabolo, devil sticks, hat, and cigar box manipulation.
- verb To handle or manage many tasks at once. “He juggled home, school, and work for two years.”
- verb (ambitransitive) To deceive by trick or artifice. “I think they are juggling the company's books.”
- verb (intransitive, archaic) To joke or jest.
- noun (juggling) The act of throwing and catching each prop at least twice, as opposed to a flash.
- noun The handling or managing of many tasks at once.
- noun (archaic) The performance of a magic trick.
- noun (archaic) A deceit or imposture.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English jogelen, partly a back-formation of Middle English jogeler (“juggler”), and partly a borrowing from Old French jogler, jongler (“to have fun with someone”), a conflation of Latin joculāri (“to jest; joke”) and Old French jangler (“to regale; entertain; have fun; trifle with; tease; mess around; gossip; boast; meddle”), from Frankish *jangalōn (“to chit-chat with; gossip”), akin to Middle Dutch jankelen (“to murmur; whisper; mumble; grumble”), frequentative of Middle Dutch janken (“to moan; groan; complain”). Related also to Middle Low German janken (“to sigh; moan; lament”), Dutch jengelen (“to whine; whimper”) Dutch janken (“to whine; wimper”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To play tricks by sleight of hand; to cause amusement and sport by tricks of skill; to conjure.
- verb To practice artifice or imposture.
- verb To deceive by trick or artifice.
- noun A trick by sleight of hand.
Etymology [OE. juglen; cf. OF. jogler, jugler, F. jongler. See Juggler.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “juggle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details