jim v
1 also with ~ around: To do odd jobs; to loaf about; hence n jim-around an odd-job man. esp WV Cf gin v 4, jim-hand n, jim work n
1912 DN 3.579 wIN, Jim. . . To potter, to trifle. “He just jims around all the time.” 1920 Fay Gloss. Mining 370 WV, Jim-around. . . A man who does miscellaneous work at mines. 1927 AmSp 2.358 cwWV, Jim . . to work at odd jobs. “I jimmed after the ox team last week.” 1939 AmSp 14.156 WV, ‘To gin (or jim) around’ . . means ‘just to dabble around, to fool around, to fiddle around.’ ‘Well, what have you been doing during the holidays?’ Answer: ‘Oh, just ginning (or jimming) around.’ 1942 Berrey–Van den Bark Amer. Slang 245.9, Jim, jim around, to do odd jobs. Ibid 456.6, Handy man; “Jack-of-all-trades.” . . jim-around, jim-hand. 1971 AN&Q Apr 121, The small farmers of Jesse Stuart’s W-Hollow area of Kentucky. . . go “ginning” around town, meaning to wander around looking for amusement without anything specific in mind. The farmers of the central counties of West Virginia . . go “Jimming.”
2 also with ~ up: To spoil, ruin, damage; also fig; hence ppl adj phr jimmed up.
1913 DN 4.27 NW, Jim. . . To spoil. 1942 in 1944 ADD, If some . . executive had got this job there might have been so much envy . . in rubber circles as to jim the rubber conservation program. N.Y. Daily News. 1953 Randolph–Wilson Down in Holler 256 Ozarks, Jim. . . To damage, to mar, to deface. The Lamar, Mo., Democrat (September 5, 1939) describes a motor wreck on the highway: “Williams said it turned his Chevrolet over and sprang the frame, besides jimming it up.” 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Jim. . . To damage, to mar, to deface. 1967 DARE (QR, near Qu. Y38) Inf MI55, Jimmed up—With a piece of machinery we might say ‘It’s all jimmed up.’