Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a robbery carried out around dusk by a number of rogues, who mill about, walking slowly along a street and opening every accessible window they can, grabbing whatever they can reach and moving on.

1777

J. Fielding Thieving Detected 21: The Jump [...] a great number of rogues then gets lurking about [...] every window they come near that has no light in, they open, if it happens not to be fastened; they then take what is most valuable out of that room, and very often go into others in the same house, acting in the same manner by them, and when they have got as much as they think can be conveniently carried off, they let themselves out at the street door, and go off uninterrupted with their booty.

(b) a robbery that uses a man posing as a lamp-lighter, who can lean his ladder against a house without suspicion, climb it and enter through any window he can open.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Jump, the Jump or Dining room Jump, a species of Robbery effected by ascending a Ladder placed by a Sham Lamplighter against the House intended to be robbed. It is so called because should the Lamplighter be put to flight, the Thief who ascended the Ladder has no means of Escape exceopt by Jumping down.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(c) a ground-floor window.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1824		letter 28 Dec. in Pierce Egan’s Life in London (10 Apr. 1825) 83/2: [W]e proceeded to the crib (house), and made an incision in the drawing-room jump (window), facing the lawn.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1889-90		D. Sladen in Barrère & Leland Sl., Jargon and Cant I 510/2: Jump (thieves), a window [...] Used also in America and Australia.

(d) a robbery that involves breaking in through a ground-floor back window; thus go the jump, to climb through a window, jump the glaze, to open the window.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: Undub the Jeger, or jump the Glaze; open the Door, or lift up the Window.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 247: jump: a game, or species of robbery effected by getting into a house through any of the lower windows. To jump a place, is to rob it upon the jump. A man convicted for this offence, is said to be done for a jump.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 60: Among the men you may not, perhaps, recognize ‘Roddy the Jump,’ but he is there.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 33: Go the Jump, sneak into a house through the window.
1901		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life II 179: ‘Jumping a crib’ is entrance by a window.

(e) see jumper n.¹ (1a)

(f) an escape, while committing a burglary.

1889

Clarkson & Richardson Police! 316: In thieves’ parlance [...] a ‘long jump’ is to drop from an upper storey window; a ‘short’ jump is to slip out of one of the basement windows; a ‘side’ jump means retiring by the side door; and a ‘back’ jump, by the back door.

(a) (also long jump) an act of sexual intercourse.

1863		in T.P. Lowry Stories the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell (1994) 35: There is four whorehouses here where a man can get a single jump for 3 dollars, five dollars for all night.
1902		Ade Girl Proposition 156: To look at the Bag in your Trousers one would think that you were getting ready to make a Jump.
1934		J.H. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) 212: Then you get cockeyed and take her out for a quick jump and ruin the whole works.
1952		E. Brown Trespass 157: It your ass you hustlin’ now, and I wants to be the one to tell you that ain’t worth no five dollars a jump.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 59: Two jumps . . . talk about channel tunnel . . . red kecks.
1972		D. Pendleton Boston Blitz (1974) 67: Just remember, I get first jump.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 497: He can pay his fifteen pound, have a jump, and go back to Wales.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 92: It’s only a deuce a jump.
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] Paulette got to give him the long jump after that.

(b) (US) a sexually promiscuous woman.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Jump, a woman of easy virtue.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 42: You should see the jump I picked me up once there.
2012		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. 2011.

(c) a sexual partner.

1953

‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 83: [G]amblers made poor jumps, their sex drive completely subordinated to a gambling urge that gnawed their organs like a cokey’s wish.

(d) (US gay/prison) gang-rape.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 155: The act of rape is a [...] jump.

(a) (US) usu. constr. with the, the beginning, the outset; thus fig. at /from/off/on jump/the jump, from the start.

1831		Maysville Eagle 12 July n.p.: I’ll give you a history of Henry Clay, from the first jump of him [DA].
1834		‘Jack Downing’ Andrew Jackson 228: They’d’ve kick’d up a rale bubbery, and’ve thrown the fat intu the fire in a jump.
1848		N.-Y. Trib. 11 Nov. n.p.: Here is a whole string of Democrats, all of whom had been going the whole hog for Cass from the jump [F&H].
1852		in N.E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 280: I will give time [credit], but Interest from the Jump [i.e. beginning immediately].
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 Sept. 3/1: Mary Ann went off from the jump in a rare bat.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 612: From the jump is constantly used as a more energetic expression than the prosy, from the first.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Apr. 9/3: We were aware from the ‘jump’ that The Bulletin would shape the future career of the Australian press.
1888		Daily Inter-Ocean (Chicago) 3 Feb. n.p.: He can depend on a big crowd and fair play from the jump [F&H].
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 11/4: A gentleman can’t be persuaded into becoming a Jew. [...] A Jew is a Jew ‘from the jump to the judge’s box.’.
1890		(con. 1860s) W. Goss Recollections of a Private 342: The battle must be fought on the jump! We’ve got to smash ’em before sundown!
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Man from Snowy River’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 6: And the old man gave his orders, ‘Boys, go at them from the jump, / No use to try for fancy riding now’.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 82: ‘[H]e grabs me right off de jump an’ starts t’ tell me wot he knows’.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 191: It’s cl’ar from the jump he ain’t meant by Providence for the cattle business.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Apr. 1/6: Every one we backed for Senate / Was a trying from the jump.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 2: Here right off the jump, some one was ready to bust up a happy home.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 13: Of course I wanted to be a detective from the jump. But you have to do a beat before you can become a Central Office bull.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 100: He reckernized me from ther jump.
1908		‘Old Sleuth’ Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 65: ‘You disappoint me, Ballard.’ ‘How so?’ ‘I’ve given you a good chance, and I expected you would say all right at a jump.’.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 21 Feb. 12/6: From the jump he were a bad-un.
1919		Van Loan ‘The Bone Doctor’ in Score by Innings (2004) 361: Jones: he got in bad with me from the jump.
1938		D. Runyon ‘A Piece of Pie’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 686: Joel Duffle getting the jump at once on the celery and olives and nuts.
1941		F. Sargeson ‘That Summer’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 175: Right from the jump he’d come hanging round me if the boss wasn’t about.
1957		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 9 Mar. 12: [T]he sharecroppers who should have owned [the South] from the jump.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 166: I thought it right good fo’ yuh to git used to the idea from the jumps.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 156: He got out just one jump ahead of the feds.
1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 52: From the jump, the leader of the delegation who is now one of the boys in charge of Washington, D.C., went into his act.
1972		N.C. Heard To Reach a Dream 210: ‘The nigga was bad luck from the jump’.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 91: I knew from the jump you had all the trumps.
1990		(con. 1930s–60s) H. Huncke Guilty of Everything (1998) 67: I knew I wasn’t going to get out, had known it from the jump.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 75: ‘Paid sixes at the jump, too. Don’t tell me you backed the thing?’.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 44: The two are planning an expedition to a county mall, and Ronnie likes to get an early jump whenever possible. [Ibid.] 189: That’s twenty, right from jump.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 13: ‘Yeah, dawg, caught a P.V. myself.’ ‘Parole in Nevada is a trick bag, bro! They violating motherfuckers from the jump.’.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 215: They’d been guessing the Lemlichs from the jump .
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘I told you from the jump [...] no cops’.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 5: Sinful Sol. A jailbaiter from jump.

(b) (orig. US, a journey, esp. from coast to coast or city to city; thus US tramp) a free trip on a train or a boat.

1879		Cincinnati Enquirer 7 Sept. 10/7: Jump – Distance to travel.
1894		‘Sl. of the Circus Man’ in Boston Daily Globe 17 Dec. 35: The distance from one town to another is always known as a ‘jump,’ and traveling is ‘jumping.’.
1908		N.Y. Globe 22 July in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 132: Not all of the players making this jump.
1912		Van Loan ‘Little Sunset’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 75: Think of the night jumps and the traveling.
1929		J. Lait Broadway Melody 83: What with frequent lay offs and occasional long and costly railway ‘jumps’, they didn’t save much.
1931		Dly Mercury (Mackay, Qld) 22 June 11/4: Blow in to any swaggies’ camp in a railway town, ask the campers how the rattler is for a jump, and if they trust you, you will learn all about the movements of train.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 69: I’d take a jump on a lorry.
1938		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 15 Oct. 11/1: Chick made the jump all the way from Harlem to play at the affair.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 24: Coxe could never make a jump like that.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 20: As the train pulled out we were joined by another non-paying traveller. [...] ‘Th’ only jump on th’ train, mates,’ he remarked.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Jump — The move to the next engagement.

(c) a fig. start, a chance.

1981

M. Baker Nam (1982) 217: They were doing it [i.e. robberies] because they couldn’t get a jump when they came back to civilian life. They couldn’t find a way back into society.

(a) (US) liveliness, energy.

1871		in From Ocean to Ocean 5: The ‘City of Washington’ coming up astern put more jump into our too-careful engineer.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 40: It was a matter of seconds till He see her, and got that sort of hot jump in the guts.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 17: Coney [Island] is such a happy place full of swing and jump.

(b) (also jump job) an ambush, an attack, a surprise, an advantage.

1912		implied in get a jump on
1912		Van Loan ‘Little Sunset’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 107: The Renegades took the ‘jump’ on their old rivals.
1930		E.H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) 227: The present-day amateur hold-up man or youth, may do fifty ‘jump’ jobs without realizing a thousand dollars.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 57: ‘How about the murder?’ [...] ‘I saw your pal Cap Weiss this morning. He was talking to Maury about the jump.’.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 106: I’d have had the jump on them but the guy I got gave a yell.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 194: For a jump on the other papers, I wrote him up in my column. It suited us both.

(c) (orig. US black) a party where the guests buy their refreshments to help pay the rent.

1993

(con. 1930s) I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 75: Some Harlemites called these rent parties jumps, shouts, or struts. The frenetic dancing at rent parties was why they were also called house hops and jump joints.

(d) (US gang/black) a dance party.

1942		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 7 Feb. 9/4: [W]ho wanted to take Arlene Reid home from the school jump and who objected.
1957		E. Hunter ‘On the Sidewlk, Bleeding’ in Best of Manhunt (2019) [ebook] He had left the jump to get a package of cigarettes.
1962		(con. 1953–7) L. Yablonsky Violent Gang (1967) 69: Baseball and throwing a ‘jump’ (dance) at Columbia were major preferences.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 58: You meet your boys and make it to a jump, where you can break night dancing.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 73: It was Count Basie’s ‘One O’Clock Jump’.
1992		(con. 1890s) Wolfe & Lornell Leadbelly 18: Sukey, or sookie, was apparently a Deep South slang term dating from the 1820s and referring to a servant or slave. A sukey jump, therefore, was once a dance or party in slave quarters.

(e) (US) a gang fight.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: jump n. [...] 2. a fight.

(a) (Aus/UK) a public house bar.

1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Sept. 4/8: Every chump / Lines in daily to canoodle / Jezebel behind the jump.
1907		N.Z. Truth 30 Nov. 2/3: All the time we was havin’ a wet, he was starin’ at the piece behind the jump as if he’d never seen a skirt before.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 146: After leaning over the jump and coughing and whatnot I got one of the barmen from the busy bars to come round.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 185: The girl behind the jump knew who Les was and [...] he had a fresh beer in front of him in about ten seconds.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 15: The old boy came round from behind the jump to tell me I had a phonecall.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 125: Aint like youre gonna be workin over the jump in the Old Pratt an Tosser.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 181: CCTV cameras above the door, banks of monitors over the jump.

(b) any form of counter, e.g. in a shop, a bank.

1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Jump. 1. The counter at which an armed robbery occurs.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 146: Trevor dropped me at a petrol station [...] and the fuckwits behind the jump thought I was asking for a fuckin spaceship to take me home rather than a fuckin taxi.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 4: [of a bank] When he looked behind the jump it was as deserted as the Marie Celeste.

(c) a urinal.

2023

Johnny Haddo on Twitter 15 Apr. 🌐 my brief encounter with Grimly Fiendish [i.,e. Ian Dury] happened in far less salubrious surroundings; ya man enters the lavatory at the Hope n Anchor on a gig night; with a commanding voice says, any room for an old Raspberry at the jump?