Jerry

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛɹi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹi

Jerry

1. A diminutive of the male given names Jeremiah, Jeremy, Jerome, Jared, Jermaine, Jerrold, Gerald, Gerard, or similar male given names.
   • 1970, Santha Rama Rau, The Adventuress, page 157:

     ..."I, incidentally, am Jeremy Wilson, and anyone who abbreviates that to 'Jerry' does so at unspeakable peril."
     "Oh really?" Kay asked. "Why?"
     "Well, just a wartime hangover. We used to call the Germans 'Jerries'."
     "I don't know much about the German war."

2. A diminutive of the female given names Geraldine or Jerilyn.
3. An unincorporated community in Asotin County, Washington, United States; named for early rancher Jerry McGuire.

• (diminutive of Gerald, Gerard): Gerry
• (female diminutive): Gerry, Geri, Gerri, Jeri, Jerri, Jerrie

Jerry (plural Jerries)

1. Alternative letter-case form of jerry: a chamber pot

A clipped form of German popularized during the First World War.

• jerry, geri, gerri

Jerry

1. (UK, US, ethnic slur, dated) A personification of the German people.
   • 2012, Bill Leckie, Penthouse and Pavement:

     […] chucking your towel on the sunbed and making sure Jerry doesn't get there first.

Jerry (plural Jerries)

1. (British, US, ethnic slur, dated) A German, particularly a male German.

   Synonyms: Boche, Fritz, Kraut

   • 2012, Margaret James, The Penny Bangle, Harpenden: Choc Lit, →ISBN, page 43:

     But Robert had been cheeriness itself, had told them to buck up and think of England, reminding them that moaning wasn’t going to beat the Jerries.

Reused during World War II and used since that war to connote lingering animosity or enmity towards Germans or Germany.

• jerrycan

From English Jerry. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1906.

Jerry c (genitive Jerrys)

1. a male given name