jimminy cricket

A form of jiminy cricket — An expression of annoyance or surprise.

Meanings

jimminy cricket1

interjection
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Jiminy Cricket.

    Then one afternoon he pounced on me and before one could say Jack Robinson his hand was in my shirt. He was so strong! I struggled but his hand kept fishing about in my bra. Then I suddenly thought, “Oh jimminy cricket, what the hell” and gave up the struggle. It was extraordinary, the feeling.

    1964, Robin Douglas-Home, chapter 12, in Hot for Certainties, London: Longmans, →OCLC, page 135
    2 more examples

    “I have been trapped in the bottle for ages. You have released me so you are my master.” / “Golly, Barbara will never believe this,” the man said. “Wish I had my camera.” / “Your wish is my command,” the genie said, and a camera appeared in the man’s hand.” / “Jimminy cricket,” the man said, “how’d you do that?”

    1992 November 4, Mike Royko, “Bush’s wish isn’t voters’ command”, in Chicago Tribune, 146th year, number 309, Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, →OCLC, section 1, page 3, column 1

    As Don says of the fallout of the slavery-cotton South, “This system is like you break a man’s leg, then you blame him for limping. Why don’t you just walk like me? Jimminy cricket, you can’t keep up? You know, you deliberately broke my leg, and now you’ve forgotten that. You seem to have forgotten that you are responsible for the condition that causes me to limp.”

    1996, Dale Maharidge, quoting Donald Northcross, “Progressives”, in The Coming White Minority: California’s Eruptions and America’s Future, New York, N.Y.: Times Books, →ISBN, part 2, page 188

Jimminy Cricket2

interjection
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Jiminy Cricket.
Cite this entry
APA

jimminy cricket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jimminy%20cricket

MLA

“jimminy cricket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jimminy%20cricket. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jimminy cricket,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jimminy%20cricket.

Source: jimminy cricket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.