jerry v.
1. to tease, to chaff, to sneer at.
Sl. Dict. 202: Jerry to jibe or chaff cruelly. Development of jeer. | ||
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.
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’. | ||
Brisbane Courier 29 May 6/3: The master has ‘jerried to the cogger’s lurk’. | ||
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. | ||
Handful of Ausseys 174: That cove with ’is [...] slowness at jerryin’ wot I wants. | ||
‘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. | ||
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. | ||
We Were the Rats 145: In the end they come to jerry to it that you an’ Clive was decent blokes. | ||
I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/1: jerry – to understand. | ||
Gun in My Hand 91: Tried to cut me out with me sheila. Hadn’t jerried to it before. | ||
Pagan Game (1969) 174: Ted Wallis will never jerry to what is wrong with the game today. | ||
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. | ||
Big Huey 250: jerry (v) Catch on, understand. | ||
Up the Cross 19: The Scholar jerried to the El Alamein situation. | (con. 1959)||
Real Thing 83: I should have jerried what was going on. | ||
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. | (con. late 1950s)||
Intractable [ebook] By the time The Foot jerried that the gate wasn’t open, it was too late. | ||
Big Whatever 25: Sherlock Mel gerried: he was just back from a voyage. | (con. 1969-1973)
In phrases
(mid-19C) to make a fuss.
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. |