The phrase and song further spread in popular imagination thanks to a 1939 cartoon starring Porky Pig who is investigating a haunted house. The cartoon, playing off the scary-sounding creepers, helped associate the expression with fear and horror, though often humorously so.
Jeepers creepers peaked in use around the late 1940s and early 1950s. Using it might sound old-timey or might allude to the popular song or classic Looney Tunes cartoons that feature the song or phrase.
This is not meant to be a formal definition of jeepers creepers like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of jeepers creepers that will help our users expand their word mastery.
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