or jeffey, subs. (colloquial).—The shortest possible time. Also JIFF.
1793. T. SCOTT, Poems, 4 Aug., p. 365. ‘To Mr. John Johnstone.’
| The thrawn-fac’t politicians, now as thick | |
| I’ mony spats as paddocks in a pool, | |
| Wad aften in a JIFFIE to auld Nick | |
| Sen’ ane anither dunnerin’ saul an’ hool. |
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. JEFFEY. It will be done in a JEFFEY; it will be done in a short space of time, in an instant.
1812. H. and J. SMITH, Rejected Addresses (‘The Living Lustres’).
| And then shall each Paddy who once on the Liffy | |
| Perchance held the helm of some mackarel hoy, | |
| Hold the helm of the state, and dispense IN A JIFFY | |
| More fishes than ever he caught when a boy. |
1818. E. PICKEN, Poems, ii. 47.
| Hech! it was an unco gliffin, | |
| Aff his huggers Watty drew, | |
| Down the howm, an’ in a JIFFIN’ | |
| Row’d his fecket like a clew. |
1825. TODD, English Dictionary, s.v. JIFFEY. … Now a colloquial word in several parts of England; and sometimes used in ludicrous writing.
1836. M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge, p. 257. It is as clear as mud that we shall be minus your own beautiful self and the boat’s crew in a JIFFEY, not forgetting Benjie there.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (Aunt Fanny).
| It is stain’d, to be sure; but ‘grass-bleaching’ will bring it | |
| To rights ‘in a JIFFY.’ |
1842. CATHERINE GORE, Fascination, p. 33. The old lady in the brown hood told me that she was going to return here in a JIFFY.
1854. THACKERAY, The Rose and the Ring, p. 109. The fact is, that when Captain Hedzoff entered into the court of Snapdragon Castle, and was discoursing with King Padella, the Lions made a dash at the open gate, gobbled up the six beef-eaters in a JIFFY, and away they went with Rosalba on the back of one of them.
1856. C. BRONTË, The Professor, iii. ‘I see such a fine girl sitting in the corner of the sofa there by her mamma; see if I don’t get her for a partner in a JIFFY!’
1866. C. READE, Griffith Gaunt, ch. v. She said one of the gentlemen was strange to her; but the other was Doctor Islip from Stanhope town. She knew him well: he had taken off her own brother’s leg in a JIFFEY.
1870. Orchestra. 15 July. His approach cleared in a JIFFEY a washerwoman’s barge and the Austerlitz bathing establishment.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xxxiv. Out of sight in a JIFFY.
1890. HUME NISBET, Bail Up! p. 178. Come along, mate; we’ll have that five hundred pounds out in a JIFFEY.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 49. Put me at ’ome in a JIFF.
1892. G. M. FENN, Witness to the Deed, ii. … Back for you in a JIFFY.
