Meanings
- uncountableTrickery or misrepresentation.
'Jiggery-pokery,' said Helena, 'you talk jiggery-pokery. Stop it, can't you?'
1975, Pamela Hansford Johnson, A Summer to Decide, Scribner, →ISBN, page 121 more example
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 SocialismSynonyms: hanky-panky, skulduggery, trickery
- uncountableManipulation.
...what my friend Singleton calls "rigging, cornering, and general jiggery-pokery methods,"...
1892, Philip Stanhope, Lightning (journal), Letter XXVII3 more examples
...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 ChronicleIndeed, 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 28, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 90The 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 - euphemisticuncountableSexual 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 CreationSynonyms: copulation
Synonyms & antonyms
nounTrickery or misrepresentation.
nounSexual intercourse.
More synonyms by meaning
nounverbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Scotsjoukery-pawkery“trickery; deceit”
- Englishjiggery-pokery
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.
More words from Scots
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish hämäys
- hämäystrickery or misrepresentation
Italian frottola, beffa
- frottolatrickery or misrepresentation
- beffatrickery or misrepresentation
Japanese 誤魔化し, 裏工作
- 誤魔化し (gomakashi)trickery or misrepresentation
- 裏工作 (ura kōsaku)trickery or misrepresentation
Russian моше́нничество, надувательство
- моше́нничество (mošénničestvo)trickery or misrepresentation
- надувательство (naduvatelʹstvo)trickery or misrepresentation
Spanish cachondeo, trufa
- cachondeotrickery or misrepresentation
- trufatrickery or misrepresentation
Ukrainian інтриги, підступи
- інтриги (intryhy)trickery or misrepresentation
- підступи (pidstupy)trickery or misrepresentation
Cite this entry
jiggery-pokery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jiggery-pokery
“jiggery-pokery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jiggery-pokery. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jiggery-pokery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jiggery-pokery.
Source: jiggery-pokery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.