jiggery-pokery en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌdʒɪɡ.ə.ɹiˈpəʊ.kə.ɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Australia) audio
- /ˌdʒɪɡ.ɚ.iˈpoʊ.kɚ.i/ (General-American)
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots joukery-pawkery (“trickery; deceit”) Attested in English since the nineteenth century. The earliest known use was in the Berkshire Chronicle in 1845.
Meanings
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(uncountable) Trickery or misrepresentation.
Much as 'off-balance sheet' jiggery-pokery and other 'creative accounting' allowed banks to get away with false impressions of their true financial position...
2015, Peter Hain, Back to the Future of Socialism:'Jiggery-pokery,' said Helena, 'you talk jiggery-pokery. Stop it, can't you?'
1975, Pamela Hansford Johnson, A Summer to Decide, Scribner, →ISBN, page 12:
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(uncountable) Manipulation.
Indeed, there was some highly questionable jiggery-pokery with couplings and continuous brakes in this agreeable story, which featured Moore Marriott as an old driver who averts a disaster on his last run.
1958 February 14, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:The hon. Member for Dover is suggesting that if all the facts were revealed, there would be less danger of people thinking that there was jiggery-pokery.
1964, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Commons official report, Volume 707, H.M. Stationery Office, page 805:...under the present law, the averages were made up so faithfully and fairly as to prevent any jiggery-pokery.
1845 December 27, “Protection to Agriculture”, in Berkshire Chronicle:...what my friend Singleton calls "rigging, cornering, and general jiggery-pokery methods,"...
1892, Philip Stanhope, Lightning (journal), Letter XXVII
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(euphemistic, uncountable) Sexual intercourse.
...the males, like most birds, have no penis. But that doesn't stop a bit of gay jiggery-pokery.
2002, Olivia Judson, Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation:
Synonyms
copulation (sexual intercourse) · trickery (trickery) · skulduggery (trickery) · hanky-panky (trickery)
Translations (18)
ka მოტყუება (trickery or misrepresentation) · hy խաբեություն (trickery or misrepresentation) · ka სისულელე (trickery or misrepresentation) · uk інтриги (trickery or misrepresentation) · it beffa (trickery or misrepresentation) · es trufa (trickery or misrepresentation) · hy նենգափոխություն (trickery or misrepresentation) · uk підступи (trickery or misrepresentation) · hy աղավաղում (trickery or misrepresentation) · ru моше́нничество (trickery or misrepresentation) · ja 裏工作 (trickery or misrepresentation) · ja 誤魔化し (trickery or misrepresentation) · ka თაღლითობა (trickery or misrepresentation) · fi hämäys (trickery or misrepresentation) · ru надувательство (trickery or misrepresentation) · it frottola (trickery or misrepresentation) · ka ჩმახი (trickery or misrepresentation) · es cachondeo (trickery or misrepresentation)