jimmying

[Bob Haas]

I've heard "jimmy a lock," as well, but always on older TV shows and movies.

on 1/18/00 10:34 AM, A. Maberry at maberry at U.WASHINGTON.EDU wrote:

> I've certainly heard "jimmy a lock" meaning to open a locked door or
> window. To me, it normally means to circumvent a locking device not
> necessarily to "pick a lock"--"jimmying" seems a lot less professional
> than lock picking.
>
> Allen
> maberry at u.washington.edu
>
>
> On Tue, 18 Jan 2000, Grant Barrett wrote:
>
>> On Thursday, January 18, 2001, Joseph McCollum <prez234 at JUNO.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> The only context in which I've heard it has been  "to jimmy a lock,"
>>> meaning "to pick a lock."  I doubt it would have anything to do with GMC,
>>> although I understand a device
>>> that auto mechanics and car thieves use to open locked car
>>> doors is
>>> called a "Slim Jim."
>>>
>>
>> Wait, doesn't one "jimmy a door" (or window) in order to circumvent the lock
>> by
>> force rather than "jimmy the lock" itself?
>>