jes, jes'
(dʒɛs)
colloq. shortening of just adv.; freq. in American (esp. Black English) writings. Cf. jest.
| 1851 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) I. iv. 41 Missis let Sally try to make some cake t'other day, jes to larn her, she said. 1886 in H. Baumann Londinismen 85/2. 1895 Southern Workman XXIV. 15/3 Ef I was starvin' an' had jes one ginger-cake, I would give you half. 1925 Odum & Johnson Negro & his Songs ii. 39 Ef you want to see old Satan run, Jes fire off dat gospel gun. 1929 Amer. Mercury XVIII. 48/1 This big sargent wus jes' too mean to live. 1938 R. E. Bass in B. A. Botkin Treas. S. Folklore (1949) iii. i. 457 He jes rared back and 'lowed, ‘I ain't never told a lie in my life.’ 1962 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore LXXV. 311 They thinks that science has solved jes' about ever'thin. 1966 Massachusetts Rev. VII. 659 He be sittin' theah at crop time, jes' afigurin' an' areckonin'. 1969 ‘J. Morris’ Fever Grass vi. 65 You jes talked a whole lotta sense. |