JIFFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jiffy mean? 

• JIFFY (noun)
  The noun JIFFY has 1 sense:

1. a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

  Familiarity information: JIFFY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JIFFY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

blink of an eye; flash; heartbeat; instant; jiffy; New York minute; split second; trice; twinkling; wink

Context example:

if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash

Hypernyms ("jiffy" is a kind of...):

bit; minute; mo; moment; second (an indefinitely short time)

 Context examples 

In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the fore-sheets of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she shoved off.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Any time when John is away and you get frightened, Mrs. Meg, just swing that out of the front window, and it will rouse the neighborhood in a jiffy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I'll hearten you up in a jiffy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"You rogue! You traitor! Jo, how could you?" cried the three girls, as Snodgrass led her friend triumphantly forth, and producing both a chair and a badge, installed him in a jiffy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)