jenny
1 Americannoun
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the female of certain animals, especially a female donkey or a female bird.
a jenny wren.
noun
noun
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a hand-operated machine for turning up the edge of a piece of sheet metal in preparation for making a joint
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the female of certain animals or birds, esp a donkey, ass, or wren
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short for spinning jenny
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billiards snooker an in-off See long jenny short jenny
Usage
What does jenny mean? The word jenny is used to refer to certain female animals, especially a female donkey or female bird. When capitalized, Jenny is a proper name. Its sense referring to female donkeys is typically used in technical discussions of breeding. Unrelatedly, jenny can also refer to the spinning jenny, a machine for spinning yarn. Example: I raise donkeys, and our jenny just had a foal.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of jenny1
First recorded in 1590–1600; generic use of Jenny, proper name
Origin of jenny2
Shortening and alteration of Genoa
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:
While the spinning jenny was key to 18th century automation of the textiles industry, they found it led to longer working hours in harsher conditions.
From Reuters ● Aug. 7, 2023
“Scientific evidence for intelligence in donkeys could expose their historical unmerited cognitive derogatory status,” the report begins about the species — the male of which is called a jack and the female is a jenny.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2021
She began with Adams' "for jenny," as if finding harmonics on her strings from a hum arising from a loudspeaker placed inside a snare drum, which remained next to her throughout the recital.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2018
The process began in England, where the invention of the spinning jenny enabled a single worker to make thread on six or seven spindles at once, and subsequent improvements increased this number rapidly.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
There is a direct line of descent from the Strasbourg clock to the spinning jenny.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Perhaps most significantly, they also manufactured machines that produced parts for other machines, such as spinning jennies and flying shuttles.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
“We’re improving techniques so jennies don’t end up empty,” Zhen says.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 12, 2019
The 43-acre site is home to 150 jacks, jennies and foals.
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2017
He’s physically intimidating, aesthetically off-putting, and vastly more powerful and efficient than a human—not unlike the spinning jennies and rolling mills taking over industry at the time.
From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2017
His chagrin and rage can only be imagined by those who knew him, when, upon this veritable occasion, he saw at least thirty women huddled together, on mares, mules, jacks, jennies, and horses.
From Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive by Burnett, Alf
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.
