jakers

jakers

English

Etymology

• minced oath from Jaysus. Compare jeepers.

Interjection

jakers

1. (Ireland, colloquial, dated) An expression of surprise or emotion
   • 1838 Charles Dance, "The Irish Lion" in The Acting National Drama (Chapman & Hall) Volume 4, p.75:

     Be jakers, what are they hushing at—and staring at me as if I wor a Roschicrucian.

   • 1922 James Joyce, Ulysses Episode XII, "Cyclops":

     O jakers, Jenny, says Joe, how short your shirt is!

   • 2013 Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred p. 25 (Little, Brown) [→ISBN]

     "Jakers, but we worked." With a long breath she shut her eyes. "But it was too much for one woman and a half-grown girl […] "