Obs. Forms: 5 gette, 5–7 iett(e, 6 get, 6–7 iet(t, 7–8 jet. [In form, app. a. Anglo-F. gett-re (Bozon), in 15th c. F. getter, jetter, mod.F. jeter to throw, cast, etc.; but the senses appear to be those belonging to the L. jactāre sē, jactārī ‘to carry oneself confidently or conceitedly, to talk boastfully of oneself, to boast, brag, vaunt oneself, make an ostentatious display,’ senses not recorded in French. The sb. jetter, corresp. to L. jactātor ‘an ostentatious displayer of himself, a boaster, a braggart’ (senses also absent from F. jetteur), was app. in earlier use than the vb., and possibly contributed to the currency of the latter.]
I. Of gait and motion.
1. intr. To assume a pompous gait or make a vaunting display in walking; to walk or move about in an ostentatious manner; to strut, swagger. Said also of animals, as a prancing horse, a peacock, a turkey, etc. Often with up and down.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 428. Þogh he iette forth a-mong þe prees, And ouer loke euery pore wight.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), VIII. 149. The seide William wente iettynge in the stretes [Higden pompatice procedebat, Trev. wente wiþ greet boost and array], and moche peple drawynge to hym.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 192/2. Gettyn, verno, lassivo, gesticulo.
a. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 51. And yet she wyll iet … In her furred flocket.
1530. Palsgr., 563/2. I get, I use a proude countenaunce and pace in my goyng, je braggue.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 150. The Pharisee, he goeth jetting bolt upright.
1587. M. Grove, Pelops & Hipp. (1878), 41. They [horses] prauncing iette, to shew themselues which best might tread the land.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 291. Others … cast out their feet before them, staulk and jet as they go, as Storks and cranes.
1649. W. M., Wand. Jew (Halliw. 1857), 59. Your Wife [shall be] pointed at, for jetting in stolne feathers.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 304. The Wicked Crow aloud fowl-weather threats, When alone on dry sands she proudly jets.
b. To move along jauntily, to caper, to trip.
1557. Phaër, Æneid, VII. T iv. Girt in skinnes they iett, wt vinetree garlonds borne on prickes.
1604. T. Wright, Passions, IV. ii. § 3. 134. To trip, to iet, or any such like pase, commeth of lightnesse and pride.
1632. T. Morton, New Eng. Canaan (1883), 180. Cleare running streames … jetting most jocundly where they doe meete and hande in hande runne downe to Neptunes Court.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Jetting along, or out, a Man Dancing in his Gate.
c. quasi-trans. To jet it. (Cf. to trip it.)
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 974. Mary, thou iettes it of hyght.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 10 b. Mistris Minx … iets it as gingerly as if she were dancing the Canaries.
a. 1624. Bp. M. Smith, Serm. (1632), 229. They iet it not onely in soft clothing, but in cloth of gold and of siluer.
a. 1634. Randolph, in Ann. Dubrensia (1877), 20. Where … harmlesse Nimphes, jet it with harmlesse Swaynes.
1672. Maypole Dance, in Westm. Drollery, 80. Then ev’ry man began to foot it round about; And ev’ry Girl did jet it, jet it, jet it, in and out.
2. intr. To stroll; sometimes simply a humorous equivalent of walk or go. (In quot. 1546, to ‘depart,’ to die.)
1530. Palsgr., 563/2. I get up and downe, I loyter as an ydell or masterlesse person dothe, je vilote.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., II. iv. (1867), 49. God forbyd wyfe, ye shall fyrst iet. I will not iet yet (quoth she), put no doutyng.
a. 1571. Jewel, On 2 Thess. (1611), 134. Poore soules came creeping and crying out of Purgatory, and ietted abroad.
1600. Maides Metam., III. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., I. 137. Ioculo, whither iettest thou? Hast thou found thy maister?.
1706. Phillips, To Jet, to run up and down.
a. 1777. Robin Hoode & Q. Kath., xix. in Child, Ballads, V. cxlv. Thus he ietted towards louly London.
3. trans. To traverse ostentatiously; to parade.
1557. North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr., 262 b/2. I ietted the stretes, I sang ballades.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 63. In towne he ietted euery streete, As though the god of warres … Might wel (by him) be liuely counterfayte.
1581. Savile, Tacitus, Hist., II. lxxxviii. (1591), 105. The Tribunes also … with multitudes of armed men went squaring and ietting the streetes.
II. Of behavior. 4. intr. To act or behave boastfully, to vaunt, to brag.
c. 1514. Barclay, in Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), p. lxvii. They laude their verses, they boast, they uaunt, and jet.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 490. On this maner ietteth forth this Buskine Portingall.
a. 1592. Greene, Alphonsus, V. Wks. (Rtldg.), 247/1. Jason did jet whenas he had obtain’s The golden fleece by wise Medea’s art.
1664. Flodden F., II. 20. King James for joy began to jet So huge an army to behold.
5. intr. To revel, roister, riot; to indulge in riotous living.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), 2. In the towne & cyte so long jetted had he, That from thens he fledde for det & poverte.
1530. Palsgr., 570. I go a jettynge or a ryottynge, je raude.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XII. xvii. (1886), 216. A certeine sir John … once went abroad a jetting, and … robbed a millers weire.
1640. in Balfour, Scot. Ballads, 37. That he may jet in dancing and whooring.
