jemmy
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of jemmy
First recorded in 1745–55
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.
While Kay waited in the car, the men went up to the Poet's Corner door to try to jemmy it open.
From BBC
There have been plenty of miracles in those 14 years - magic passes spun from those conjuror's fingers; side-stepping, slashing bursts through bewildered opponents; impossible off-loads to jemmy open locked defences and steal a game away.
From BBC
Bunton said that he hadn't carried a jemmy and if the toilet window had been shut he would have had to give up.
From The Guardian
Betty, bet′ti, n. a man who troubles himself with the women's work in a household: a slang name for a burglar's jemmy or jenny.
From Project Gutenberg
The door had been wrenched open with a jemmy, and had simply been pulled to on the departure of the intruders.
From Project Gutenberg
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.