jiminy cricket! excl.
(orig. US) a euph. for Jesus! excl.
Norfolk Chron. 20 July 4/3: Definitions of words, phrases, etc. which Dr Johnson and other learned lexicographers have thought beneath their notice [...] jeminy-creminy, An emasculate obstentation. | ||
Age (London) 6 Jan. 6/2: ‘Gemini Crack! what a big un for an infant!’. | ||
Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs (1851) 107: Oh! Jimminny Crimminny! what a cussed old fool! | ||
Nantucketisms 40: By Jiminy Cricket, an exclamation of surprise [DA]. | ||
Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: Jeemeny, criminy! – if you’d only bin whar I was! | ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’||
‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 67: Jeeminy, criminy! Jest to see him, one uv them ar great big rusty rattlesnakes! | ||
The Down-Trodden 29/2: You shall have the shiners – by jiminey cripes, you shall. | ||
🎵 Oh! Gimini crikey blow me tight! I always jump and shout. | ‘Susan’s Sunday Out’||
Princetown Union 24 Dec. 5/3: He does, by jiminy crickets! | ||
Thomas County Cat. 22 July 8/1: ‘Jiminy crickets!’ thought Jim. | ||
Century Mag. (N.Y.) Apr. 854/2: ‘Great Jiminy Crimany!’ Major Jimmy Bass would exclaim [DA]. | ||
Hartlepool Mail 6 Aug. 3/4: Postmaster Van Cott mutters ‘Jiminy crips’. | ||
Star (Guernsey) 9 Aug. 4/1: Favourite ‘Swears’ of Eminent Americans [...] Van Cott finds emphasis in ‘Jemmy Cripps’. | ||
Sun (NY) 27Mar. 7/1: She’d been married twice before, Jiminy Christmas. | ||
Salt Lake Herald (UT) 21 May 6/4: By jiminy cricket, I have it in for you. | ||
‘The Horse Wrangler’ in Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 338: Geemany crimany, how he lied! | et al.||
‘’Arry and the [...] Lady Cyclists’ Punch 15 June 285/3: Hadvanced Women? Jiminy whizz! | ||
Captains Courageous 118: Jiminy Christmas! | ||
Caleb West 288: Jiminy-whiz, but it’s soapy out there! See ’er take that roller! Gosh! [DA]. | ||
‘Andy Page’s Rival’ in Roderick (1972) 363: Jimminy froth!! — It was me all the time. | ||
DN III:i 62: jimminy Christmas, or crickets, or criminy, interj. ‘Jimminy Christmas, it’s cold.’. | ‘Dialect Speech in Nebraska’ in||
Brownsville Daily Herald (TX) 6 Feb. 1/5: By jiminy crickets, I’m doggoned glad to see you’. | ||
DN III:ii 143: jeeminy Chris’mas, interj. ‘Jeeminy Chris’mas! That hurts.’. | ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in||
DN III:iv 314: geeminetty, geeminy (crickets), geeminy Chris(t)mas [...] interj. | ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in||
Watch Yourself Go By 302: By yimminy crickitts, Uh! Uh! | ||
DN IV:ii 75: jimmety whiskers! Ejaculation. | ‘Rural Locutions of Maine and Northern New Hampshire’ in||
Anna Christie Act I: By yiminy crickens, Ay calabrate dat! | ||
Manhattan Transfer 18: ‘Jiminy crickets!’ cried the young man at the end of the table [...] ‘Kin you beat it?’. | ||
Amer. Songbag 275: Oh jimminy krissmas, how he lied! | ‘The Tenderfoot’ in||
Rampant Age 26: By jiminy Jesus. | ||
Limey 33: ‘Jiminy crickets!’ she said to Sprout approvingly. | ||
Dialect of Garrett County, Maryland 7: Geeminy criminy, interj., mild imprecation [DA]. | ||
Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 6: Jesus: Jeez, jeewizz, gee, jiminy, by Jove, by George, by jingo, by jingies, jericho, jerusalem. [added in pencil: Jiminy Cricket]. | ||
Horse’s Mouth (1948) 187: ‘Jee-minny Christy,’ I said. ‘What you think I’ve been doing all my life – playing tiddly winks.’. | ||
🎵 Tweedle tweedle tweedle dee / I’m as happy as can be. / Jimminy cricket, jimminy jack. | ‘Tweedle Dee’||
Mad mag. July–Aug. 16: Jiminy Crickets, Mr Science! | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 220: The variety of euphemisms that have been devised in place of it (including, among others, gee, gee whillikers, jeepers creepers, Jeez, Jiminy Christmas, Jiminy Cricket, and jingo). | ||
I Am Already Dead 258: ‘[G]ee whiz and Jiminy Crickets, what a terrific shot, eh?’. |