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↑flying jenny n
Also flying jinny, ~ jinnie, ~ ginny[jenny 1, prob from its earliest form being a pole that was ridden astride (see 1a quot 1946)]
1 An amusement device in which riders are whirled in a horizontal circle; a merry-go-round; spec:
a Any of various simple contrivances in which the riders supply the motive power. chiefly South, South Midland See Map
Also called flying board, flying Dutchman 3, flying frappy, flying horse 1b, flying sally, jenny 6, spinning jenny, volador,whirling jenny
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contains mapscontains audiocontains DARE survey quotes
- 1876 in 1969 PADS 52.52 neIL, We had a spring board flying jinnie etc we had lots of fun.
- 1916 DN 4.268 New Orleans LA, NC, Flying jinny. . . A home-made form of carousel.
- 1940 Hench Coll. VA, Flying jenny or jinny. [Drawing shows a pole with a rotating hub at the top, from which hang ropes or chains; children run holding on to these and are swung outwards by centrifugal force.]
- 1946 PADS 6.14 eNC, Flying jenny. . . A sixteen-foot pole five inches in diameter with a hole through the center. In this hole was a wooden or metal peg, which rested on a stump or some other wooden foundation. The jinny was rotated by some children while others rode it.
- 1954 PADS 21.28 SC, Flying jinny.
- 1958 PADS 29.10 TN, Flying jinny. . . It was a wheel or board on a post on which people rode round and round.
- c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Flying-jenny. . . Sometimes made by cutting down a slender sapling and using the stump for the base, the rest of the tree for the moving part.
- 1965–70 DARE
- Qu. EE32, A homemade merry-go-round
- 107 Infs, chiefly Sth, S Midl, Flying jenny (or jinny);
- Qu. EE31
- Inf GA44, Flying jenny.
- 1966–67 DARE Tape
- FL8, The board that was put on this stump was a wide board . . , and a hole was bore into that, and then to hold onto the stump you’d need a long iron pin. . . The pin held it on the stump. . . It was known as a flying jinny. . . A child would sit on either end. It would just whirl round. . . A third person was usually needed to get them going, perhaps keep them going;
- TX3, They called ’em flying jennies, where they turned round. [FW:] . . Was it something up on a pole, that they could go round on that way? [Inf:] Yes. . . It was a seat that turned around and around like that.
- 1969 PADS 52.52 LA, [Footnote to flying jinnie:] Saw off a straight, four or five-inch-thick tree about two and a half feet from the ground; whittle the top of the stump to form a pivot several inches high; trim the tree trunk to form a long pole; bore a hole through the pole at the point of balance; place the bored pole on the pivot. This piece of makeshift playground equipment was used as a combination seesaw and merry-go-round.
- 1980 Foxfire 6 201 nGA, Mack Dickerson remembers a small oak stump about four feet high. They used a plank with a hole drilled in the center. The flying jenny would last longer when they used axle grease.

b A carnival ride powered by an animal or motor.
Also called flying horse 1a
- 1906 DN 3.136 nwAR, Flying jinny. . . A merry-go-round. Originally the propelling power was furnished by a mule.
- 1908 DN 3.311 eAL, wGA, Flyin(g)-jinny. . . A merry-go-round. Universal.
- 1939 FWP Guide Tennessee 168 (as of c1869), Thoni designed and carved the first wooden animals to stand upon a “Flying Jenny” (merry-go-round).
- 1945 Sat. Eve. Post 9 June 17/3, Today, the carrousel—or “flying jinny” as she is known in the trade—is lighted by as many as 2200 electric bulbs.
- 1953 AmSp 28.116 [Carnival talk], Flying Jenny.
- 1959 Faulkner Mansion 317 MS, Them frustrated dogs [were] circling round and round the automobile like the spotted horses and swan boats on a flying jenny.
- [1978 AmSp 53.198 cwAR, I can remember they had those merry-go-rounds pulled by a mule, a jenny. . . They had little double seats with a tent hung over it, and this jenny was inside.]
2 See quot.
- 1930 Shoemaker 1300 Words 23 cPA Mts (as of c1900), Flying-ginny—A small wind-mill, sometimes used at mountain communities to draw water or run a chop-mill.