jaywalking

[jey-wawk] Origin

jay·walk

[jey-wawk]
verb (used without object)
to cross a street at a place other than a regular crossing or in a heedless manner, as diagonally or against a traffic light.

Origin:
1915–20, Americanism; jay + walk

jay·walk·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To jaywalking

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Jaywalking is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
jaywalk (ˈdʒeɪˌwɔːk)
 
vb
(intr) to cross or walk in a street recklessly or illegally
 
[C20: from jay (sense 2)]
 
'jaywalker
 
n
 
'jaywalking
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

jaywalking
by 1912 in Amer.Eng. (said in original citation to be a Kansas City term), from jay, perhaps with notion of boldness and impudence. Related: Jaywalk; jaywalker.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT