Jerry

See also: jerry

Englisch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹi

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Jerry

1. A diminutive of the male given names Jeremiah, Jeremy, Jerome, Jared, Jermaine, Jerrold, Gerald, Gerard, or similar male given names.
   • 1970, Santha Rama Rau, The Adventuress, page 157:

     ..."I, incidentally, am Jeremy Wilson, and anyone who abbreviates that to 'Jerry' does so at unspeakable peril."
     "Oh really?" Kay asked. "Why?"
     "Well, just a wartime hangover. We used to call the Germans 'Jerries'."
     "I don't know much about the German war."

2. A diminutive of the female given names Geraldine or Jerilyn.
3. An unincorporated community in Asotin County, Washington, United States; named for early rancher Jerry McGuire.

Alternative forms

• (diminutive of Gerald, Gerard): Gerry, Jheri
• (female diminutive): Gerry, Geri, Gerri, Jeri, Jerri, Jerrie

Derived terms

• Tom-and-Jerry shop

Etymology 2

Nomen

Jerry (plural Jerries)

1. Alternative letter-case form of jerry: a chamber pot

Etymology 3

A clipped form of German popularized during the First World War.

Alternative forms

• jerry, geri, gerri

Proper noun

Jerry

1. (UK, US, ethnic slur, dated) A personification of the German people.
   • 2011 [1965], Olivia Manning, Friends And Heroes (The Balkan Trilogy)‎^[1], Random House, →ISBN:

     Phipps went on: “One of our chaps, out on a reccy over the Bulgarian front, thought he saw something in the snow. Something fishy. He dropped down to have a dekko and nearly had kittens. What d'you think? Jerry's got a mass of stuff there—tanks, guns, lorries, every sort of heavy armament. All camouflaged. White.”

   • 2012, Bill Leckie, Penthouse and Pavement:

     […] chucking your towel on the sunbed and making sure Jerry doesn't get there first.

Nomen

Jerry (plural Jerries)

2. (British, US, ethnic slur, dated) A German, particularly a male German.

   Synonyms: Boche, Fritz, Kraut

   • 2012, Margaret James, The Penny Bangle, Harpenden: Choc Lit, →ISBN, page 43:

     But Robert had been cheeriness itself, had told them to buck up and think of England, reminding them that moaning wasn’t going to beat the Jerries.

Usage notes

• Reused during World War II and used since that war to connote lingering animosity or enmity towards Germans or Germany.

Derived terms

• jerrycan

Translations

slang: German — see Fritz

German — see German

Swedish

Etymology

From English Jerry. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1906.

Proper noun

Jerry c (genitive Jerrys)

1. a male given name