English

Proper noun

Jerry

1. A diminutive of the male given names Jeremiah, Jeremy, Jerome, Jerrold, Gerald, Gerard or similar male given names.

   Hello, Jerry!
   Hello, Newman.

   • 1970, Santha Rama Rau, The Adventuress, p. 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. A male given name.

Noun

Jerry ‎(plural Jerries)

1. (dated, UK) A chamber pot: a container used for urination and defecation.

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:chamber pot

See also

• Geri, Gerri, Gerry
• Jerri

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• jerry, geri, gerri

Proper noun

Jerry

1. (Britain, US, ethnic slur, dated) A personification of the German people generally.

Noun

Jerry ‎(plural Jerries)

1. (Britain, US, ethnic slur, dated) A German, particularly a male German.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• Boche
• Fritz
• Kraut

Derived terms

• jerrycan

Translations

References

1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary. "jerry, n.²".

Swedish

Etymology

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

Proper noun

Jerry

1. A male given name.

English

Noun

jerry ‎(plural jerries)

1. (ethnic slur) Alternative letter-case form of Jerry: a German.
2. (Britain, slang) Alternative letter-case form of Jerry: a chamber pot.

Synonyms

• (a German) See German
• (chamber pot) See Wikisaurus:chamber pot

Adjective

jerry ‎(not comparable)

1. (dated) jerry-built
   • 1889, Alfred Thomas Story, A book of vagrom men and vagrant thoughts (page 57)

     If a man builds a jerry-house, he has a jerry conscience; and there are a lot of consciences of that description going about.