jitney
Americannoun
plural
jitneys-
a small bus or car following a regular route along which it picks up and discharges passengers, originally charging each passenger five cents.
-
Older Slang. a nickel; five-cent piece.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
-
a small bus that carries passengers for a low price, originally five cents
-
slang a nickel; five cents
Etymology
Origin of jitney
1900–05, of obscure origin; French jeton jetton is a phonetically implausible source
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.
But the second the jitney turns into the South Fork, and I start to see trees, my shoulders drop.”
From New York Times
“When I was younger and couldn’t afford an actual vacation, I would bring my toddler on an adventure I called ‘the bus to the boat to the jitney to the beach,’ ” Coven said.
From Seattle Times
He had just come from helping at his church’s soup kitchen and now was at Tops, volunteering in the community jitney service that shuttles people without a ride to and from the store.
From Seattle Times
Because cabdrivers refused to go there, residents relied for decades on private jitneys to get around — cars that followed set routes through the community.
From Washington Post
I couldn’t agree more with Brian Broome’s Nov. 9 Tuesday Opinion column, “So long, jitneys — and farewell to our connective tissue.”
From Washington Post
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.
