jiggery-pokery

Noun

jiggery-pokery (uncountable)

1. Trickery or misrepresentation.
   • 'Jiggery-pokery,' said Helena, 'you talk jiggery-pokery. Stop it, can't you?'1975, Pamela Hansford Johnson, A Summer to Decide, Scribner, →ISBN, page 12
   • Much as 'off-balance sheet' jiggery-pokery and other 'creative accounting' allowed banks to get away with false impressions of their true financial position...2015, Peter Hain, Back to the Future of Socialism

   Synonyms:

   hanky-panky, skulduggery, trickery

2. Manipulation.
   • ...under the present law, the averages were made up so faithfully and fairly as to prevent any jiggery-pokery.1845 December 27, “Protection to Agriculture”, in Berkshire Chronicle
   • ...what my friend Singleton calls "rigging, cornering, and general jiggery-pokery methods,"...1892, Philip Stanhope, Lightning (journal), Letter XXVII
3. (euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.
   • ...the males, like most birds, have no penis. But that doesn't stop a bit of gay jiggery-pokery.2002, Olivia Judson, Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation

   Synonyms:

   copulation