Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (mainly US Und.) a short house-breaker’s crowbar.

1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 36: I’m agoin’ to open it with a jimmy.
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd Ser.) 369: I have got my own clasp-knife – a darkey – and a small jimmey.
1854		F. St. Clair Six Days in the Metropolis 48: Implements of all sorts taken from burglars [...] There are jimmies, jack-screws, saws, skeleton-keys, and matches for blowing open locks.
1858		Bell’s Life in Sydney 11 Sept. 3/2: The warehouse had been broken open by means of a jimmy.
1859		‘Scene in a London Flash-Panny’ Matsell Vocabulum 99: Why, he scarcely knows a jimmy from a round robin.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 10/2: Taking a couple of ‘jimmeys,’ some ‘screws’ and a stout rope, Joe and I proceeded on our dangerous travel. [Ibid.] 81/1: In a twinkling he had his ‘jimmy’ into it [i.e. a cashbox] and it burst open.
1872		E. Crapsey Nether Side of NY 17: They rely solely upon main force both in entering a building and in working upon the safe, as they pry the first open with a ‘jimmey,’ or small hand-bar, and belabor the latter with a hammer until it falls to pieces.
1882		G.W. Peck Peck’s Sunshine 156: As burglars, the idea seems revolting. To think of a woman going about nights with a jimmy [...] and sneaking into rooms, is degrading.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Mar. 9/1: He was clearly pining for the ‘jimmy,’ skeleton keys, knuckle-duster, and centre-bit appertaining to his proper vocation.
1891		Neenah Dly Times (WI) 17 Jan. 2/5: My lamp fell one way and my jimmy the other.
1899		A. Binstead Gal’s Gossip 156: Minnie [...] must have looked prettily in her natty get-up, poising her electro-plated jimmy.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 12 June 4/8: I’d like to see a bur- glar get in here [...] I’d like to see him blunt his jimmies trying to break into this steak.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 65: Got a scalin’ ladder and a jimmy in your pocket?
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Man Higher Up’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 141: Out of his pocket drops a fine, nine-inch burglar’s steel jimmy.
1911		Wash. Post 14 May 13/3: Any such [...] could get a ‘jimmy,’ a ‘brace,’ skeleton keys or any other ‘tools of trade’ he might require.
1923		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 11 Aug. 15/2: A jimmy scientifically applied will open any red-`hot cinder.
1927		J. Black in L.A. Examiner in Black (1926) 334: I have just decided that the pen is mightier than the ‘jimmy’.
1932		E.S. Gardner ‘Bird in the Hand’ in Goulart (1967) 260: The marks of a jimmy showed plainly in the wood.
1940		R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 235: ‘The lobby door is locked [...] But I’ll go down and slip the lock.’ ‘That’s fine [...] I won’t have to bring my jimmy.’.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 266: Jack Callahan [...] was inspired by youthful ambition to be a ‘knight of the jimmy and skeleton keys’.
1965		(con. 1940s) Malcolm X Autobiog. (1968) 235: On a patent lock, we’d use a jimmy, as it’s called, or a lockpick.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 212: I recommend a chisel or Jimmy.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 60: To him that meant having a door jimmy, a friendly fence and a ten-minute headstart.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 264: I jabbed the jimmy into the lock.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1911

S. Ford Torchy 136: Clifford wa’n’t a Western crook who was layin’ pipes for a little jimmy work.