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jet¹

(jĕt)

1. A dense black coal that takes a high polish and is used for jewelry.

2. A deep black.

adj.

1. Made of or resembling a dense, black, highly polished coal.

2. Black as coal; jet-black: jet hair.

[Middle English get, jet, from Anglo-Norman geet, jeet, from Latin gagātēs, from Greek, lignite, jet, after Gagai, a town of Lycia (near present-day Kumluca, Turkey), where pieces of lignite could be found washed out at the mouth of the local river.]

jet²

(jĕt)

a. A high-velocity fluid stream forced under pressure out of a small-diameter opening or nozzle.

b. An outlet, such as a nozzle, used for emitting such a stream.

c. Something emitted in or as if in a high-velocity fluid stream: "such myriad and such vivid jets of images" (Henry Roth).

a. A jet-propelled vehicle, especially a jet-propelled aircraft.

b. A jet engine.

v. jet·ted, jet·ting, jets

v.intr.

1. To travel by jet aircraft: jetted from Houston to Los Angeles.

2. To move very quickly.

v.tr.

To propel outward or squirt, as under pressure: "Any man might ... hang around ... jetting tobacco juice" (Ross Lockridge, Jr.)

[French, from Old French, from jeter, to spout forth, throw, from Vulgar Latin *iectāre, alteration of Latin iactāre, frequentative of iacere, to throw; see yē- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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