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• jerry
  jerry

  adjective

  of inferior materials or workmanship.
• Jerry
  Jerry

  noun

  a male given name, form of Gerald, Gerard, Jeremiah, and Jerome.

jerry

¹ American  

[jer-ee] / ˈdʒɛr i /

adjective

Building Trades Slang.

1. of inferior materials or workmanship.

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jerry ² American  

[jer-ee] / ˈdʒɛr i /

noun

Chiefly British Slang.

• jerries
  plural

1. a chamber pot.

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Jerry ³ American  

[jer-ee] / ˈdʒɛr i /

noun

1. a male given name, form of Gerald, Gerard, Jeremiah, and Jerome.

2. a female given name, form of Geraldine.

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Jerry ⁴ American  

[jer-ee] / ˈdʒɛr i /

noun

Older Slang: Sometimes Offensive.

• Jerries
  plural

1. a German, especially a German soldier.

2. Germans collectively.

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Jerry ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒɛrɪ /

noun

1. a German, esp a German soldier

2. the Germans collectively

   Jerry didn't send his bombers out last night

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jerry ² British  

/ ˈdʒɛrɪ /

noun

1. an informal word for chamber pot

2. short for jeroboam

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Sensitive Note

Jerry was a nickname used by Allied soldiers for a German soldier during World War I, but it was more commonly used in World War II.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Jerries
  plural
• jerries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of jerry¹

First recorded in 1875–80; short for jerry-built

Origin of jerry²

1820–30; short for Jeroboam (because if one drank such a large amount of liquid, one would have to void urine during the night)

Origin of Jerry⁴

First recorded in 1910–15; Ger(man) + -y ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jerry Jerry Jerries

Fellow tourist Vladislav, who arrived by road from the Russian region of Krasnodar, said he had brought jerry cans filled with petrol in case he was unable to find fuel.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

People bought five-gallon jerry cans, filled them, and bought more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

Left behind on the street outside the Louvre was the truck, a jerry can, a blowtorch, angle grinders, a walkie-talkie and yellow vests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

As she filled up plastic jerry cans with water from a standpipe in the street, the 39-year-old admitted she was struggling to provide the food and water her young children needed.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2024

She propped her camera on a five-gallon-size rumpled jerry can that at one time contained cooking oil, and set the timer.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

Jost compared Trump’s expectations to believing he might win an Oscar for *Tom & Jerry*.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

This later prompted model Jerry Hall to reminisce about her own wedding to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Owner Jerry Jones called the game’s result “extraordinarily, extraordinarily disappointing.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Jerry Heasley, a Texas car collector and freelance automotive journalist, convinced Tesla in 2025 to refund the $50,000 deposit he had made in 2017 for a garden-variety Roadster, according to documents viewed by the Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

We said good night to Ty and Jerry in our driveway.

From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon

I’m not in Cisterna because the Jerries still got it, but we were pretty darn close.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

They wanted to know: How many live Jerries are in Crete?

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week the same boy, now 21, took off in a Hurricane, swept around the Channel looking for Jerries, came back to earth on a sodden British airfield.

From Time Magazine Archive

I guess the Jerries must have been holding it for the poor fellows caught in the lights.

From Time Magazine Archive

O'Malley had gotten into the formation first and he was taking it apart with a display of aerial gymnastics that made the Jerries forget anything but escape.

From A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F. by Rutherford George Montgomery

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