C17: originally perhaps a euphemism for Jesus; applied to bellicose patriots after the use of by Jingo! in the refrain of a 19th-century music-hall song
jingo in American English
(ˈdʒɪŋgoʊ)
nounWord forms: pluralˈjingoes
1.
a person who boasts of his or her patriotism and favors an aggressive, threatening, warlike foreign policy; chauvinist
adjective
2.
of jingoes; jingoistic
Idioms:
by jingo!
Derived forms
jingoism (ˈjingoˌism)
noun, adjective
jingoist (ˈjingoist)
noun
jingoistic (ˌjingoˈistic)
adjective
jingoistically (ˌjingoˈistically)
adverb
Word origin
< phr. by jingo in the refrain of a patriotic Brit music-hall song (1878): orig. ? euphemism for Jesus2
Examples of 'jingo' in a sentence
jingo
Fair play, it wasn't his fault he died, and by jingo he'd suffered on the way.