jiminy

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1. datedAn expression of mild surprise or annoyance.

   He sat up with a jerk. "Holy Jiminy! How did you figure all that out?"

   1917, Elaine Sterne, The Road of Ambition, New York, N.Y.: Britton Publishing Company, page 120

   3 more examples

   "Jimminy!" I thought. "Now I can do my Christmas shopping just like anybody." I dashed out along the town's main street to look at the glowing store windows and ponder what to buy.

   1956, Joe Evans Brown, Laughter Is a Wonderful Thing, New York, N.Y.: A. S. Barnes and Company, page 77

   A hand touched her arm, in the crook of the bare flesh inside the elbow. Jiminy, how quietly they could all move! She looked sideways and up, through the dark.

   1968, Peter Dickinson, The Glass-Sided Ant's Nest, New York, N.Y.; Evanston, I.L.: Harper & Row, Publishers, page 23

   "Oh, jimminy," yelled Katie. "Don't you..." she warned, as the brew drizzled into her palms. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed onto the table.

   2007, Tricia Boone, Melissa Thompson, The Stormholder, Nashville, T.N.: Cold Tree Press, →ISBN, page 137