or jimmy, subs. (common).—1. A short crowbar, usually made in sections screwing together, used by housebreakers. Also JAMES (q.v.).
ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Bess; betty; crow; dog; Jack-in-the-box; James; jilt; lord-mayor; persuading plate; pig’s-foot; the stick; screw (also a skeleton key); tivvill; twist; twirl.
FRENCH SYNONYMS. Les agobilles (thieves’ = housebreaking tools); les alènes (pop: = shoemakers’ awls); l’avant-courier (thieves’); le bataclan (= the kit); le cadet (thieves’); l’enfant; Jacques (= JEMMY); sucre de pomme (thieves’); le biribi; le rigolo; les halènes (see alènes, ante); le monseigneur (Cf. LORD MAYOR); les outils (= tools).
SPANISH SYNONYM. Culebra (= adder).
1752. The Adventurer, No. 100. And when I went out carried in my hand a little switch, which, as it has been long appendent to the character that I had just assumed, has taken the same name, and is called a JEMMY.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. JEMMY. A crow. This instrument is much used by housebreakers. Sometimes called JEMMY ROOK.
1837. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, xx. She presently returned with a pot of porter and a dish of sheeps’ heads: which gave occasion to several pleasant witticisms on the part of Mr. Sikes, founded upon the singular coincidence of JEMMIES, being a cant name, common to them, and also to an ingenious implement much used in his profession.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (Nell Cook). They call for crow-bars—‘JEMMIES’ is the modern name they bear.
1851. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, iv., 339. Expert burglars are generally equipped with good tools. They have a JEMMY, a cutter, a dozen of betties, better known as picklocks.
1888. The Saturday Review, 15 Dec., p. 719. One side of slang was illustrated by the burglar Casey in a well-known case of robbery in the City some years ago, who explained in Court that the big JEMMY with which iron shutters were prised open was called the ‘Alderman,’ adding, ‘it would never do to be talking about crowbars in the street.’
1890. Daily Graphic, 7 Jan., p. 14, col. 4. He saw the prisoner leaving, and he detained him until a constable arrived. A JEMMY was found in the back yard.
1890. Standard, 7 April, p. 6, col. 3. During the chase the Prisoner threw away a JEMMY, a lantern, and a key.
1892. Globe, 10 May, p. 2, col. 1. Opening a front door with … a JEMMY.
1894. Westminster Gazette, 31 March, 5, 2. Police constable Skeggs said there were marks of a JEMMY on the window and the front door.
2. (common).—See quots.; cf. SANGUINARY JAMES and BLOODY JEMMY.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. JEMMY (bloody)—a sheep’s head; so called from a great dealer in these delicious morceaux.
1835. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, p. 41. The man in the shop, perhaps, is in the baked JEMMY line.
1837. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, xx. [See ante, sense 1, quot. 1837.]
1843. W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Scamps of London, ii. I shall stand a JEMMY and sauce at Mother White’s.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, ii., 48. They clubbed together for a good supper of tripe, or had a ‘prime hot JEMMY’ apiece.
1884. W. E. HENLEY and R. L. STEVENSON, Deacon Brodie, iv., 1. You’re all jaw like a sheep’s JIMMY.
3. (common).—A shooting coat; also a great coat.
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, ch. ii. Your friend in the green JEMMY.
4. (common).—A term of contempt. ALL JIMMY = all rot.
Adj. (common).—1. Spruce; dandified. JEMMINESS = spruceness; neatness.
1754. The Connoisseur, No. 19. The JEMMY attorney’s clerk, the prim curate.
1767. Gentleman’s Magazine, Sept. A cute man is an abbreviation of acute … and signifies a person that is sharp, clever, neat, or, to use a more modern term, JEMMY.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. JEMMY-FELLOW.
1800. WHITER, Etymologicon Magnum, or Universal Etymological Dictionary, p. 359. To this race of words I must refer our vulgar term JEMMY.
1788. G. A. STEVENS, The Adventures of a Speculist, vol. i., p. 11. He … once was as smart a fellow as ever stood toast-master, dressed as JEMMY … as e’er a commoner in all England.
d. 1800. S. PEGGE [quoted by TODD]. Perhaps the new word JEMMY should be GIMMY.
1825. TODD, English Dictionary, s.v. JEMMY, spruce. A low word.
1840. J. WILSON and R. CHAMBERS, The Land of Burns, Div. N. I must tell you that Burns had got a pair of JEMMY boots for the journey.
2. (common).—A term of contempt. See subs., sense 4.
