Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔧 A small crowbar 🚪 To force open 🩹 To improvise repair
jimmy

jimmy

10 8.0
A small metal bar used to force open doors or windows
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒɪmi/
  • US
translation icon : pata de cabra
  • When I started, you could punch through a vault door with a jimmy bar.

Examples

  • He used a jimmy to pry open the old door that had been stuck for years.

  • The locksmith recommended carrying a jimmy for emergencies when dealing with stubborn locks.

  • Butch, wearing Larry's plaid jacket, jimmies open the cash register.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • To break into the abandoned house, they needed a jimmy to open the window.

Synonyms

crowbar
vsjimmy
45 2.9

A heavy metal bar with a curved end used to force things open and pull out nails

is a shorter metal lever used especially to pry open windows or doors
pry
vsjimmy
  • Archaic
4 8.4

A long metal bar with a flat end used to lift or move heavy things

is shorter and used more for opening windows or doors than lifting
pry bar
vsjimmy
  • US
3 4.8

A heavy metal tool with a flat pointed end used to lift things and pull nails

is shorter and mainly for prying open windows or doors rather than heavy tasks

Surface Forms

jimmy singular
jimmies plural

Etymology

Jimmy for a short metal crowbar probably comes from an older word jemmy that meant the same tool. A helpful image is a little bar nicknamed 'Jim' that you use to pry things open, which explains why a jimmy is a small pry bar.