jimmy
1 Americannoun
-
a short crowbar.
-
a large male crab, especially of Chesapeake Bay.
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
noun
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
I pull out the calibration tool and jimmy it under the lower edge of the cover.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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The American experiment in liberty fascinates Jimmy, and his papers and magazines reflected that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Mr. Clifford is a former business associate of imprisoned newsman Jimmy Lai and author of a Lai biography, “The Troublemaker.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Either Jimmy Lai dies in jail or he is freed, likely on humanitarian or medical grounds,” Mr. Clifford says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Thankfully, Jimmy knew of a nest being built on the outskirts of Bishop Auckland which would happily take in the giggle of galahs, alongside its impending parliament of owls and pandemonium of parrots.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Jay was cool with me going—Dad battled there, and Mr. Jimmy doesn’t tolerate any nonsense—but she wasn’t crazy about me going with Aunt Pooh.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
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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
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In their video, posted Friday, the structure is jimmied into place under cover of darkness while one man shouts, “You can’t bring me down!”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2020
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
But here, the elements seem to have come from different jigsaw puzzles, and the pieces feel jimmied into place.
From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2014
Retrieval had jimmied a hologram lead into the existing electricity sockets and were projecting an unbattered wall over the hole.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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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
Mr. Baugh went to work, officials said, backing his truck up, jimmying the offending vehicle’s window and hastily removing the S.U.V. — with 15 seconds to spare.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2015
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
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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.