jaywalk
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jaywalksimple
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jaywalkssimple
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have jaywalkedperfect
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has jaywalkedperfect
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am jaywalkingprogressive
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are jaywalkingprogressive
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is jaywalkingprogressive
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have been jaywalkingperfect progressive
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has been jaywalkingperfect progressive
Past
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jaywalkedsimple
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had jaywalkedperfect
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was jaywalkingprogressive
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were jaywalkingprogressive
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had been jaywalkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jaywalk
Explanation
To jaywalk is to cross the street in the middle of the block, rather than in a crosswalk, or in front of oncoming cars that have the right of way. If you dare to jaywalk, you might be violating a pedestrian traffic law. Shame on you. When you jaywalk, you don't follow the rules of the road that protect pedestrians and drivers. If you dash across the street against a red light, you jaywalk. Likewise, if you meander across a busy road rather than waiting at a crosswalk, you also jaywalk. Jaywalk comes from jay walker, coined in Kansas City in 1906, from the sense of jay as an ignorant person. Jaywalk was first used in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1909.
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:
And a crosswalk for the people in the apartment who jaywalk.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2022
Look before crossing, use crosswalks and don’t jaywalk.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
The abiding French sense of “liberté” is on display in the streets at all hours, where Parisians young and old jaywalk at nearly every opportunity.
From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2021
The Post: Can you give me an example of how the built environment might influence behavior, how a street design might prompt people to jaywalk or make drivers more likely to speed?
From Washington Post ● Sep. 17, 2021
I watched him jaywalk across Fremont Boulevard and enter Fast & Easy, a little grocery store run by an elderly Vietnamese couple, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
If somebody jaywalks, you don’t start a grand jury investigation.
From Salon ● Jan. 9, 2014
"Not everybody who jaywalks gets a ticket," said Kamal Essaheb, an attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.
From Washington Post
She jaywalks so endearingly that when we learn she is on the lam from a mental hospital, we are firmly on her side.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pedestrians jaywalked across Hollywood Boulevard, and tour buses lulled to a slow roll to do the same.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
When the man crossed the street, the officer then said, “Oh, you just jaywalked now, sir.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2016
She kissed me on the lips and turned and jaywalked across the street to her beige and brown Pontiac.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 30, 2013
It meant that there was a nice multiuse path nearby, but that to get there I had to cross busy 45 Street—I waited so long for a “walk” signal that I jaywalked.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2012
Kirby jaywalked across the street diagonally and passed in front of an electric headed south.
From Tangled Trails A Western Detective Story by Raine, William MacLeod
Among the revisions: new bans on jaywalking, walking pets without a leash and smoking while driving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
“The movie you’re about to see was paid for almost entirely by the Canadian government,” said Johnson with contagious glee, adding that German audiences have also been shocked to witness the city’s rampant jaywalking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
“In 2018, they began using surveillance cameras to fine people for jaywalking and the system could identify your face and send the fine directly to your address.”
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2024
It was because new traffic signs had been installed in town and jaywalking laws were being enforced.
From Slate ● May 2, 2024
Driving past, my dad used to roll his eyes at the flocks of students haplessly jaywalking across Ellis Avenue, wondering how it was that such smart people had never learned to properly cross a street.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
