Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (also jump) a thief who enters a house through a window.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Jumpers. Persons who rob houses by getting in at the windows.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Jump, or jumpers fellows who get in at the windows to rob a house, in the day-time.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].
1821		Flash Dict. [as cit. 1809].
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 315/2: jumpers, [...] classe de voleurs qui entrent dans les maisons par les fenêtres.
1882		Dly Dispatch (Richmond, VA) 1 Nov. 3/3: A ‘jumper’ [...] robs houses by getting in at that windows.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 40: Jumpers, thieves that get through the windows to steal.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: His associates never call him a burglar — it would not be etiquette, They know him as a family man, a ken cracker, a panzy, or a jumper.

(b) a thief who steals from offices.

1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
2003		Observer Crime 27 Apr. 28: Jumper. A thief who steals from offices.

(a) a flea or any small jumping insect.

1798		‘Llandisilio Hotel’ in Hilaria 131: By swarms of black jumpers, call’d flease, / All this party were damnably bit, / The priest’s shirt and his wife’s clean chemise, / The filthy black jumpers b-sh-t.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 68: Vhy, thunder me groggy! if any trav’ler gets rest there – why it is a reglar bug trap and jumper valk and chat hutch.
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 13 May 7/6: Wonder if there’s any grey backs or jumpers in the beds?
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 14 Dec. 2/1: A city man, whose house held its share of fleas, recently gave a large party. When the guests had gone there wasn’t a jumper on the premises. They had gone with the guests.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 122: Jumpers. Cheese-maggots, or mites.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 1 Apr. 4/8: A dealer bought seven sides of bacon [...] the stuff was reeking with jumpers and other filth.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 192: There’s nothing like the old jumpers for making a bloke tired out. He thinks as how he’s getting a good night’s kip and all the time he’s twisting and turning about and scratching his bleeding self and wearing hisself out while he’s sleeping.

(b) (Can./US) a light buggy, a basic form of sledge.

1823		J.F. Cooper Pioneers (1827) III 92: He was seen drawing one of those jumpers that they carry their grain to mill in.
1871		E. Eggleston Hoosier School-Master (1892) 278: Driving Martha to a wedding in a ‘jumper’.
1891		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 24 Jan. 6/4: [A] double ripper [i.e. a large sledge], that was carrying a dozen people [...] leaped elght feet over a ‘jumper’ and overturned.
1898		New Eng. Mag. June 455/1: My pulse quickens as I recall the glorious times with our ‘jumper,’ and the hair-breadth escapes from posts and barberry bushes, in our swift descent upon the ice [DA].
1944		Duncan & Nickols Mentor Graham 154: Many New Salem folk had jumpers (sleighs) that might be borrowed by an ingratiating young man or rented in exchange for a day’s work [DA].

(c) a travelling bus or rail inspector.

1905		Sporting Times 3 June 1/5: The conductor was to frankly ask the clean-shaven old gentleman. Said the jumper: ‘I beg pardon sir.’.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 189: Jumper [...] (b) A bus inspector.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

(d) (US black) in pl., gym shoes [their use in basketball].

1972

D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 70: jumpers n. gym shoes; tennis shoes.

(e) (US) someone who makes or attempts a suicide jump from a height.

1964		Walsh & Da Gradi Mary Poppins [film script] There’s a nice spot by the bridge, popular with jumpers [HDAS].
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 42: You could shame a jumper into surrendering.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 107: Murphy and Corelli approached the jumper, each coming at him from a different side.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 20: Nobody had time for jumpers, so nobody checked the bridge.
2010		K. Richards Life 441: This is about sixteen stories up, and there’s Roy [....] knocking on the window [...] people are calling ‘Hey, up there. Someone’s got a jumper’.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 5: Windows [...] hve safety locks on, so they dinnae get jumpers.

(f) (US) someone who attempts or makes a suicide jump onto the subway tracks.

1986

C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 149: Yeah, well, you got me doing this jumper.

(g) (US black) an expensive bicycle, esp. when stolen.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 jumper Definition: a name brand racing bike, niggas ride. Stolen ones Example: I stole this jumper from a cracker last week.

(a) (Aus.) one who jumps a mining claim [jump v. (3c)].

1851		A.T. Jackson Forty-Niner (1920) 67: They are good friends of ours and will keep the jumpers off [our claim] [DA].
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 June 6/4: Tip had some little difficulty with a Chinaman, […] and when the Chinkie, who could show a better right to the ground than the ‘jumper,’ refused to budge from his position, the playful Tim pinned him to the mother earth by sending a driving-pick through one of the Celestial’s feet into the virgin soil underneath.
1890		A.C. Gunter Miss Nobody of Nowhere 86: Bob, the hero who saved the Baby mine from the jumpers for us.
1909		W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 50: At Bar Double G we’re not doing friendly business with claim jumpers.
1925		Z.A. Tilghman Dugout 102: She stopped there, rather than at the house, because the road ran by it, and there the jumpers would first reach the claim [DA].
1948		P. Johnston Gold Rush 34/1: Clame Notise — Jim Brown of Missoury takes this ground; jumpers will be shot [DA].
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 27: The jumpers were all at work on the claims they’d pegged.

(b) (US black) something exciting, that ‘makes one jump’.

1941

Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 18 Jan. 7/2: Teddy Hill threw a party [...] last week that was a solid jumper.

(c) one who absconds while on bail [jump v. (4a)].

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 199: ‘What’s Ron doin’ on Monday, yu know?’ ‘He’s workin’ a couple of jumpers, I think.’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 181: The [...] city worker whose very appearance will often persuade the most recalcitrant jumper to step peacefully into the back of the car.