A jig is a lively, springy, irregular dance for one or more persons, usually in triple time.

Also a piece of music, for, or in the time of the dance.

Tradition is that the Jig became a courtly dance in the time of Queen Elizabeth and that it was introduced to the Continental Courts in the reign of Louis XIV.

Many fashionable dance figures were set to "Jig Melodies", of the time and up till 1843, people were dancing hand in hand, around tables to the measure of an Irish Jig.

The Jig calls for a lively stamping of the heels and rapid foot-work with a quiet torso. The Jig may be danced by one or more persons, as a solo or couple.

One, two, or more persons took part in the dance, and he or she who could last the longest and keep time to the liveliest music was considered the best dancer.

The males usually carried in their hands a short stick called a shillelagh which they kept constantly whirling to the time of the music, during the continuance of the dance.

The singing of ballads was always interspersed with these dances, the dance not infrequently taking the place of our modern chorus.