Meanings
interjection
- IrelandcolloquialdatedAn expression of surprise or emotion
O jakers, Jenny, says Joe, how short your shirt is!
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC2 more examples
Be jakers, what are they hushing at—and staring at me as if I wor a Roschicrucian.
1838, Charles Dance, “The Irish Lion”, in The Acting National Drama, volume 4, Chapman & Hall, page 75"Jakers, but we worked." With a long breath she shut her eyes. "But it was too much for one woman and a half-grown girl […]"
2013, Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred, Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 25
Origin
* minced oath from Jaysus. Compare jeepers.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
jakers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jakers
MLA
“jakers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jakers. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jakers,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jakers.
Source: jakers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.