jerry-built [M19th] Poorly built houses have been described as jerry-built since the mid 19th century. The term is nothing to do with Jerry, a derogatory name for a German, probably based on the word ‘German’, that came out of the First World War. One suggestion is that jerry-built comes from the name of a firm of builders in Liverpool, or it may allude to the walls of Jericho, which in the biblical story fell down at the sound of Joshua’s trumpet. The jerrycan [Second World War] does come from Jerry—it was originally used by Germans, but was adopted by the Allies in the Second World War.