Green’s Dictionary of Slang

jerry v.

[? dial. jerry, noise, ironical appluase, thus jerried, jeered at, teased or abbr. jerrycumumble v., or ]

1. to tease, to chaff, to sneer at.

[UK]Sl. Dict. 202: Jerry to jibe or chaff cruelly. Development of jeer.
[UK]Mirror of Life 2 Mar. 11/1: In the 8st 4lb competition the lad who was most ‘jerried,’ Jack Sharp, of Hoxton, was once the cleverest boy at his weight [...] Jack, at the hall, on this evening [...] was fat and scant of breath.

2. (also gerry, jerry to) to understand, to work out, to recognize, to discern.

[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Feb. 3/4: ‘I told you it was Starlight, the fightin’ man, and you’d best jerry, or he’ll stoush you’.
[Aus]Brisbane Courier 29 May 6/3: The master has ‘jerried to the cogger’s lurk’.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 8 July Red Page/3: But I aint like that with other Toms. I uster give the chat ter anythink in skirts an crors kid ter ther best uv em until I met yew an now, well now things is diffrent I jerry ter a lot I never never new befor I sorter unstand a lot er that guff them poet coots writes abowt.
[Aus]C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 174: That cove with ’is [...] slowness at jerryin’ wot I wants.
[Aus]C.J. Dennis ‘The Knight’s Return’ in Chisholm (1951) 85: But all at once I place ’im, an’ I grin. / But ’e don’t jerry; ’e’s stone sober now.
Press (Canterbury) 2 Apr. 18: ‘To be a dag at,’ ‘to put across a beaut,’ ‘to jerry to,’ ‘ducks’ breakfast,’ ‘to float up to,’ ‘to blow up to,’ ‘to sleep in the Star Hotel’ need no explanation.
A. Turner After Three [radio script] I jerried Donaldson had been putting it over the other John I was full, and that me evidence was up to putty.
[Aus]L. Glassop We Were the Rats 145: In the end they come to jerry to it that you an’ Clive was decent blokes.
[Aus]N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/1: jerry – to understand.
[NZ]G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 91: Tried to cut me out with me sheila. Hadn’t jerried to it before.
[NZ]G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 174: Ted Wallis will never jerry to what is wrong with the game today.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 44: You’d think th’ lousy scum would give a battler a go, wouldn’t you? I should’ve jerried when the guy gave me the tug.
[NZ]G. Newbold Big Huey 250: jerry (v) Catch on, understand.
[Aus]J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 19: The Scholar jerried to the El Alamein situation.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett Real Thing 83: I should have jerried what was going on.
[Aus]P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 99: I saw two bank girls whispering [...] Kevin jerried and took a comb out of his back pocket, ran it slowly through his hair [...] The girls loved it.
[Aus]B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] By the time The Foot jerried that the gate wasn’t open, it was too late.
[Aus]P. Doyle (con. 1969-1973) Big Whatever 25: Sherlock Mel gerried: he was just back from a voyage.

In phrases

kick up a jerry (v.)

(mid-19C) to make a fuss.

[UK]Sportsman 21 July 2/1: Notes on News [...] [S]ome of the Scotch ‘unco’ guid,’ [...] kicked up what is vulgarly called a ‘jerry’ regarding the proprietors of a steamer [...] This worthy collection of Holy Willies cannot stand the doings the steamer.