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, volume 4, Chapman & Hall, page 75:

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

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

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

   • 2013, Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred‎^[1], Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 25:

     "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 […] "