Sentence:  Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a <WSD>jiffy</WSD>, I hung on and fought for breath. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A very short, unspecified length of time. (from 1780.)