Meanings
jessamy1
plural jessamies
- EnglanddialectalobsoleteJasmine.
- obsoletealways pluralA vain man.
Jessamy2
plural Jessamies · alternative Jessamie
- A female given name.
Jessamy’s eyes widened. What was it Matchett had said? That she would not take sauce from Jessamy because she was ‘only the housekeeper’s niece and the cook-housekeeper at that?’
1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 321 more example
‘Aunt Maggie, why was I ever called Jessamy?’ And as she said it she wondered why she had never thought to ask before. Her aunt changed the heavy suitcase to the other hand and said, ‘It was your mother’s name.’ Jessamy’s heart gave a little jump inside her, and Aunt Maggie went on: ‘When I said I thought it was too fly-away, and wouldn’t Ann or Mary be more sensible, she said that the eldest daughter was always called Jessamy in her family.’
1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 146
Origin
jessamy · noun
The word's second sense is from a man's use of a particular perfume, most likely jasmine-scented.
Full word history & related roots →Jessamy · proper noun
Equivalent to Jasmine and Jessamine. Popularized by the character Jessamy in Barbara Sleigh's 1967 children's book Jessamy.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with jessamy
All rhymes →Cite this entry
jessamy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jessamy
“jessamy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jessamy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jessamy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jessamy.
Source: jessamy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.