the.com/jimmy
The crowbar's nickname and the verb for what it does to a locked door.
means To pry something open by force, usually a lock, door, or window, using a short bar as leverage.
from Jimmy began as British/American slang using the common nickname 'Jimmy' (for James) as a generic name for a burglar's small iron crowbar, much like 'jack' or 'jenny' got pressed into service as tool-names. The noun for the tool came first, recorded in 19th-century thieves' slang; the verb 'to jimmy' a lock followed naturally from it. It's part of a long habit in English of turning common personal names into everyday nouns for objects and actions.
- as a verb
- means to pry open by force
- name origin
- diminutive of james, burglary's favorite relative
- also means
- chocolate sprinkles in parts of new england
- tool slang
- british thieves called crowbars jemmies since 1800s