jujitsu

[joo-jit-soo] Origin

ju·jit·su

[joo-jit-soo]
noun
1.
a method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by using the strength and weight of an adversary to disable him.
2.
the use of an opponent's strengths or one's own weaknesses to accomplish one's goals: That was a kind of intellectual jujitsu, the way she handily won the debate. The town of Vacaville, in a prime example of touristic jujitsu, turned its isolation into an attraction in itself.
verb (used with object)
3.
to turn (a situation) to one's advantage by exploiting one's own weaknesses or another's strengths, as in a social or political relationship: He deftly jujitsued the conversation to make my knowledge of the subject seem pretentious.

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Jujitsu is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Also, jiujitsu, jiujutsu, jujutsu.
Compare judo, karate.


Origin:
1870–75; < Japanese jūjitsu, earlier jūjutsu, equivalent to soft (see judo) + -jut(u) technique < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese shù
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To jujitsu
Collins
World English Dictionary
jujitsu, jujutsu or jiujutsu (dʒuːˈdʒɪtsuː)
 
n
See also judo the traditional Japanese system of unarmed self-defence perfected by the samurai
 
[C19: from Japanese, from gentleness + jutsu art]
 
jujutsu, jujutsu or jiujutsu
 
n
 
[C19: from Japanese, from gentleness + jutsu art]
 
jiujutsu, jujutsu or jiujutsu
 
n
 
[C19: from Japanese, from gentleness + jutsu art]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

jujitsu
1875, from Japanese jujutsu, from ju "softness, gentleness" (from Chinese jou "soft, gentle") + jutsu "art, science," from Chinese shu, shut.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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