jigger n.1
1. (UK Und.) a door.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 209: He taught his Pupil a deal of canting Words, telling him [...] Jigger, a Door. | |
| Discoveries (1774) 37: I stall at the Jegger to nap the Slangs from the Cull or Moll; that is [...] I stop at the Door to take the Things from the Man or Woman. | |
| (con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in (1999) xxvi: A Jigger A Door. | |
| Society and Manners in High and Low Life in Ribton-Turner (1887) n.p.: jigger-dubber. – Is a term applied to jailors or turnkeys, jigger being flash or cant for door. | |
| New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: jigger a door, bolt. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Autobiog. (1930) 292: Jigger signifies a door. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Vocab. of the Flash Lang. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Autobiog. 98: There was a padlock upon the garret jigger. | |
| Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 334: ‘Well done,’ cried I, dashing up to the jigger [i.e. of a coach], and demanding the blunt in as loud a voice as I could. | |
| (con. 1703) Jack Sheppard (1917) 15: ‘Jigger closed!’ shouted a hoarse voice. [Ibid.] (con. 1724) 220: An immense grated door, called in the slang of the place, ‘The Jigger’. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | |
| Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: The coves next jigger (door) are hangers on (dependents) of the Autembawlers (ministers) and turn up their snuff-traps whenever there’s a shindy. | |
| Vocabulum 55: ‘Jack pulled the jigger to, and Smasher milled the glaze, touched the swag, and mizzled like a bull’ [...] Jack, in the meantime, pulled the door to. Smasher broke the window, stole the jewelry, and was off like a locomotive. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 7/2: Before e’er a bugger opens this ‘jigger’ I mean to have him ‘frisked’. | |
| Son of a Vulcan I 218: I went to the back jigger, myself, and did the patter. | |
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Strike a Jigger - To pick a lock, break open a door. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 40: Jigger, a door,‘dub the jigger’ - shut the door. | |
| How I Became a Detective 88: ‘Jigger’ a door. |
2. a doorkeeper, thus a prison warder.
 | Humours of the Fleet quoted in Fleet (1888) 281: The Door-keeper, and he who opens shuts the Jigg, is call’d the Jigger [F&H]. | |
| Doings in London 323: This celebrated prison stands compact and large, Where, by the jigger’s more than magic charm, Kept from the power of doing good or harm, Relenting captives only ruminate. | |
| Chequers 183: One of the jiggers says one thing, and one of them says another thing. | |
| Rapid City Jrnl (SD) 17 Jan. 31/1: It was the coldest day of the year [...] the jiggers were on the watch for inmates burning their bedding and furniture. |
3. (UK Und.) a key.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 619/1: 1815–70. |
4. a prison or cell.
| ‘Soldier Sl.’ in Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds n.p.: jigger: — Guard-house. | |
| ‘Terror of Company K’ Ballads of the Regiment 58: He finished each ‘jag’ in the ‘jigger’. |
In compounds
a turnkey.
| Choice of Harlequin I viii: I’m jigger dubber here, and you are welcome to mill doll. | |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Gigger dubber, the turnkey of a jail. |
| Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | |
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. | |
| ‘Ye Scamps, Ye Pads, Ye Divers’ Regular Thing, and No Mistake 62: [as cit. 1781–2]. | |
| Vocabulum 37: gigger-dubber A turn-key; a prison-keeper. | |
| Story of a Lancashire Thief 9: I’ve spoken of Curly Bob, the Screever, and Brummagem Joe. Before Bob took to the chalks, he had been a jigger-dubber [...] but got sacked for boozing. | |
| Australasian (Melbourne) 17 July 8/5: A turnkey is called a jigger dubber. | |
| Sl. Dict. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 40: Jigger Dubber, a gaol warder. |
(US prison) some form of mirror or reflecting surface that can be extended through the cell bars to survey activity on the tier of cells.
| Rapid City Jrnl (SD) 17 Jan. 31/1: At the end of one tier of cellblocks a con stood jigger — Instead of trying to stick his head through the bars he used a jigger mirror. |
In phrases
see under dup v.
(UK Und.) to pick a lock, to break down a door.
| , | | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Strike a Jigger - To pick a lock, break open a door. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 82: Strike the Jigger, break open the door. |
In exclamations
(US teen) used to express one’s regret for mis-speaking.
| Phila. Daily Bulletin 1 Feb. 6: Put me in the jigger for a bum — Expression of lament after saying something one shouldn’t. |