Obs. exc. dial. Also 9 gemmy, gimmy, jimmy. [deriv. of Jim, GIM a.] Spruce, neat, smart; neatly made; dexterous.
1750. Coventry, Pompey Litt., II. iv. (1785), 58/1. His great ambition was to be deemed a ‘jemmy fellow.’
1756. Connoisseur, No. 112, ¶ 7. The jemmy frock with plate buttons.
1771. P. Parsons, Newmarket, II. 89. His jemmy turn’d-down boots.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Gim, gimmy, spruce, neat, smart.
1828. Lamb, in Life & Lett. (1876), II. 341. A smart cock’d beaver and a jemmy cane!
b. Comb., as jemmy-stitched, -worked.
1762. T. Jefferson, Corr., Wks. 1859, I. 181. They carried away my jemmy-worked silk garters.
1817. Mrs. Ross, Balance of Comfort (ed. 3), I. xxiii. 246. Only a piece of muslin rag, neatly jemmy-stitched.
Hence Jemmily adv.; Jemminess.
1756. F. Greville, Maxims, etc. 125. Its fort shall be either convenience or jemminess.
1818. Todd, Jemminess, spruceness. A colloquial expression; not much used in serious writing.
1837. New Monthly Mag., LI. 194. A stick to be carried jemmily under the arm, in Portsmouth fashion.
