jumpy
adj/ˈd͡ʒʌmpi/
Etymology From jump + -y.
1
Nervous and excited.
- It was the butler who saw him go. Twelve o'clock at night and raining hard. So next night I was up at the house and, sure enough, master was off again. Stephens and I went after him, but it was jumpy work, for it would have been a bad job if he had seen us.1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 281:
- "I wish it was well over," admitted Hollyer. "I'm not particularly jumpy, but this gives me a touch of the creeps."1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
2
Tending to jump; full of jumps.
- Near-synonym: saltatory
- We moved at a good clip, so I reached up to pull shut the window coverings, just in case this jumpy frog decided to escape.2018, Candice Gilmer, Ending The Curse:
1 more example
- Meanwhile, the car pursued its jumpy course, and I could not prevent myself laughing.2022, Maurice Renard, New Bodies for Old: