jimmy
noun
a short crowbar.
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jimmy
1 American
[jim-ee]
/ ˈdʒɪm i /
noun
-
jimmies
plural
-
a short crowbar.
-
a large male crab, especially of Chesapeake Bay.
verb (used with object)
-
jimmies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jimmied,
past participle, past
-
jimmying
present participle
jimmy
2
American
[jim-ee]
/ ˈdʒɪm i /
noun
Australian Slang.
-
jimmies
plural
Jimmy
3
American
[jim-ee]
/ ˈdʒɪm i /
Or
Jimmie
noun
Jimmy
1
British
/ ˈdʒɪmɪ /
noun
jimmy
2
British
/ ˈdʒɪmɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jimmysimple
-
jimmiessimple
-
have jimmiedperfect
-
has jimmiedperfect
-
am jimmyingprogressive
-
are jimmyingprogressive
-
is jimmyingprogressive
-
have been jimmyingperfect progressive
-
has been jimmyingperfect progressive
Past
-
jimmiedsimple
-
had jimmiedperfect
-
was jimmyingprogressive
-
were jimmyingprogressive
-
had been jimmyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jimmy1
1840–50; generic use of Jimmy; cf. jack 1
Origin of jimmy2
1835–45; rhyming slang; Jimmy (Grant), for immigrant
Explanation
To jimmy something is to force it open. If you lock yourself out, you can jimmy a window and climb inside your house. Or you could just use that key that's hidden under a rock by the door. A thief might jimmy a car door to steal its stereo, and if you accidentally paint your kitchen window shut, you may have to jimmy it open. The verb jimmy comes from the noun jimmy, or "short crow bar," the kind of tool you'd use to jimmy something. In the 1800s, this type of crowbar was popular with burglars.
Vocabulary lists containing jimmy
The Sword of Summer
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Every Falling Star
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The Last Cuentista
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A ground crew member had managed to jimmy the window open, passenger Matt Rexroad told FOX5SanDiego.com.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2023
“Unfortunately, inside of our system in certain units, our detainees have the ability to jimmy their locks,” Edwards said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2021
“Imagine the idea of the American government convincing a foreign manufacturer to jimmy equipment in its favor,” the history says.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 11, 2020
But there were no keys, and the first archivist Ms. Bingham met did not have the authority to permit her to jimmy the locks.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2015
She was working away, trying to jimmy loose the catch on a window screen.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
In the Massachusetts Senate primary on Tuesday, 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey, who was first sent to Washington the year Jimmy Carter won the presidency, handily defeated a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
Other students he has mentored include Jimmy Ba, co-founder of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI, and Devendra Chaplot, a founding team member of Mistral AI and Thinking Machines Lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Aisling Bea, John Bishop and Mo Gilligan are among the comics who will perform at the event.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The incident occurred days before Google announced its multi-year partnership with Beast Industries, a company founded by YouTube influencer Jimmy Donaldson, also known as his media personality MrBeast, who produces viral spectacles online.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The ways in which I have been hurt—and have hurt others—are different from the ways Jimmy Dill suffered and caused suffering.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
She fashioned little carts of coke — the hard coal used to heat ore — using jimmies and dragées.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022
As if under an enchantment, Allery wanders back to the plant, where he jimmies the lock and completes a day of work alone.
From New York Times ● May 7, 2020
The real deal is a pro-biotic, slightly sour dessert that no amount of jimmies can make palatable, at least to me.
From Time ● Aug. 3, 2010
Instead of a bushel, we’d shoot to catch a dozen or dozen and a half of good jimmies, enough for lunch.
From Washington Post
The aboatia jimmies the trophy case open like a cat burglar and hops onto one of the doorknobs.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
I had to use the trunk opener inside the glove compartment, which, of course, had been jimmied open, and I kept closed with duct tape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
“So I jimmied the lock, started taking paper towels and put them in the AP teletype.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
They peered at the famous door that was jimmied during the Watergate burglary.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2019
They quickly jimmied the door open, popped the trunk and rescued a Brazilian couple, boyfriend and girlfriend, who’d paid $20,000 a piece to be smuggled to New York.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 27, 2019
She jimmied her window open and crawled inside.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
By now, Zhao’s at it again with the crowbar, jimmying our hearts open for one last tearjerk.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
But in jimmying the original into a more serious musical format as it proceeds, it achieves only a middling geniality.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2022
“I wasn’t really thinking about the fight at the time,” Forsyth said of his moments jimmying his way into the FBI office.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2021
Mercifully, the show mostly avoids the usual jukebox pitfall of jimmying in songs to reflect the plot in literal ways.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2019
He reaches for my arm as I stalk down the path, frantically jimmying the stubborn gate until at once it bursts open.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
