| 释义 |
▪ I. Jack, n.1|dʒæk|
Forms: 3–5 Iakke, 3–7 Iacke, 5 Iak, 6–7 Iack, 7– Jack, jack.
[A pet-name or by-name, used as a familiar equivalent of John; in ME. Jakke, Jacce, Jacke, a disyllable: cf. the analogous Cebbe, Colle, Dawe, Geffe, Gibbe, Grigge, Hicke, Hobbe, Hogge, Hudde, Judde, Symme, Thomme, Watte, mentioned along with Jacke, in Gower's Vox Clamantis, i. 783–91.
The actual origin is disputed. It has been generally assumed to be the same word as F. Jacques, in OF. also Jaques, Jaqves (:—*Jacbes:—late L. ˈJacobus, for Jacōbus, Gr. Ἰάκωβος Jacob) James; also a familiar name for a peasant, a man of the lower orders (cf. Jacquerie). But it has been used in Eng. from its earliest appearance as a by-name of Johan, Jan, John; and a strong case has been made out by E. W. B. Nicholson, M.A., Bodley's Librarian (The Pedigree of Jack and of various allied names, 1892), for its actual origination as a pet-form of that word. Cf. esp. the recognized diminutives Jankin and Jackin (as contained in the surnames Jacken (1327), Jackins, Jackinson), and the relation between Dick and Dickin, Rob and Robin, etc. The Scotch equivalent form of the name is Jock1, but this has not the transferred senses of Jack.]
I. Applied to a man, or the figure of one.
1. a. (As proper noun.) A familiar by-form of the name John; hence, a generic proper name for any representative of the common people.[Occurs as a fore-name in the Worcestershire Lay Subsidy roll of 1276–82, which has also the variant or derivative Jacky. Jakkes occurs as a surname in Hants in 1279, and Jak as a surname in Norfolk in 1297.] 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 65 Saue Iacke þe Iogelour and Ionete of þe stuyues. 1390Gower Conf. II. 393 Therwhile he hath his fulle packe, They seie, ‘A good felawe is Iacke’. 1414Hist. Monast. S. Augustini Cantuar. (Rolls) 338 Mos enim est..Saxonum..verba ac nomina transformare.. ut pro Thoma Tomme sive Tomlin, pro Iohanne Iankin sive Iacke. 1546Heywood Prov. (1867) 29 Jacke would be a gentleman if he could speake frenche. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 228 We vse the like termes by way of pleasant familiaritie..as..Mall for Mary, Nell for Elner: Iack for Iohn, Robin for Robert. 1635Heywood Hierarch. iv. 206 Deckers but Tom; nor May, nor Middleton. And hee's now but Jacke Foord, that once were John. 1712Addison Spect. No. 403 ⁋5 Well Jack, the old Prig is dead at last. 1814Coleridge Lett. II. 635 Jack, Tom, and Harry have no existence in the eye of the law, except as included in some form or other of the permanent property of the realm. 1840Marryat Poor Jack viii, Thus did I become..the acknowledged..‘Poor Jack of Greenwich’. 1892I. Taylor in Academy 26 Mar. 302/3 In 1379..we find a Nicholaus Jakson Hughson, who must be the son of a man entered as Johannes Hughson. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that this Johannes Hughson was called Jak by his neighbours.
b. In conjunction with the female name Gill or Jill: see gill n.4 2.
[14..Lydg. London Lyckpeny 83 Some songe of Ienken and Iulyan for there mede.] c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 340 And I wole kepe the feet this tyde Thow ther come both Iakke and Gylle. c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 336 For Iak nor for Gille wille I turne my face. 1546Heywood Prov. (1867) 48 Al is well, Jack shall haue gill. 1661Needham Hist. Eng. Rebell. 74 Princes are brav'd by Jack and Jill. 1670Ray Proverbs 108 A good Jack makes a good Gill. 1852Lytton My Novel iii. x, If Gill was a shrew, it was because Jack did not, as in duty bound, stop her mouth with a kiss.
c. cousin Jack: familiar name for a Cornishman: see cousin n. 5 b.
1890Boldrewood Miner's Right vi. 65 Cousin Jack Tressider, an opulent Cornish miner. Ibid. ix. 92 A short man, whose blue-black curly hair and deep-set eyes betrayed the Cousin Jack.
d. Used as a form of address to an unknown person. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 490/2 Jack (American), it is common among schoolboys in Philadelphia to address a stranger as Jack. 1933Partridge Words, Words, Words! i. 71 Jack is still very frequent among ‘the common people’ when, in addressing a stranger, one wishes to avoid the abruptness caused by omitting the unknown name. 1943N.Y. Times 9 May ii. 5/4 Jack, that man had them rolling in the aisles. 1966S. Kelly in F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 76 Dawn taps yer winder [sc. window].. another day before yiz [sc. you], Jack. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 70 Jack, term of address by one male to another.
2.
†a. (As a common noun.) A man of the common people; a lad, fellow, chap; esp. a low-bred or ill-mannered fellow, a ‘knave’. Obs.
1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 65 A common poyncte of pleasure doyng, that euery iacke vseth. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 290 A mad-cap ruffian and a swearing Iacke. 1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xvi. 108 They send them [geese] to the medowes..vnder the custodie of some little small Iacke, who may keepe them from going..into any forbidden places. a1640Day Parl. Bees v. (1881) 33 A halter stretch thee: such ill-tutord jacks Poyson the fame of Patrons. 1682Bunyan Holy War (Cassell) 354 But Mr. Unbelief was a nimble Jack; him they never could lay hold of. 1746Brit. Mag. 75 Familiar both with peers and Jacks.
†b. Phr. to play the jack: to play the knave, to do a mean trick. Obs.
1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 198 Your Fairy..Has done little better then plaid the Iacke with vs. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle Induct., If you were not resolved to play the Jacks, what need you study for new subjects, purposely to abuse your betters? 1668Pepys Diary 23 Feb., Sir R. Brookes overtook us coming to town; who played the jacke with us all, and is a fellow that I must trust no more.
c. Phr. every man jack (sometimes every Jack man): every individual man. colloq.
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxix, You don't mean to say their old wearers are all dead’... ‘Every one of 'em... Every man Jack’. 1866Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. i, Every man-jack in the place gave his vote to the liege lord. 1870Thornbury Tour Eng. II. xxviii. 233 They can't swim, not one man Jack of them.
d. A policeman or detective; a military policeman. Cf. John 1 c. slang.
1889Clarkson & Richardson Police! xxiii. 320 A policeman, a fly, Jack,..crusher, peeler. 1899Birmingham Daily Mail 1 Nov., A couple of men who were in plain clothes in the tap-room of a public-house, and were suspected by the ‘gaffer’ of being ‘Jacks’. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 29 Jack, a military policeman. 1930Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Jan. 11/2 Blue..looked up and saw two Jacks waiting. ‘Where are you going?’ demanded one M.P. 1941Argus (Melbourne) Week-End Mag. 15 Nov. 1/4 Jacks, military police. 1946F. Sargeson That Summer 102 We all had to stand there with a crowd of jacks in plain clothes standing round. 1967J. Gardner Madrigal viii. 199 You're not going to believe it. I haven't told all to the jacks naturally. 1971J. Wainwright Dig Grave 45 These county coppers..couldn't get their minds unhooked from the words ‘New Scotland Yard’—as if every jack in the Metropolitan Police District worked from there.
e. Slang phr. on one's jack = on one's own, alone (short for on one's Jack Jones: see 35 e below).
1931‘G. Orwell’ Coll. Ess. (1968) I. 71 Jack, on his: on his own. 1935― Clergyman's Daughter iii. 197 Michael went off on his jack an' left me wid de bloody baby. 1936[see grass n.1 12]. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby ix. 93 You're off on your jack then? 1973R. Parkes Guardians x. 193, I thought I could go sneaking in there all on my jack and bring out the evidence.
3. a. (As proper or common noun.) A familiar appellation for a sailor. Also Jack-tar, q.v.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea Proem. B iv, Hollanders..the Broom at the main... The English took it down, and laid it most sadly upon Jack-Sailors breech. 1706Wooden World Diss. (1708) 94 Let us e'en turn about, and view honest Jack the Sailor. Ibid. 98 Here he and his Brother Jacks lie pelting each other with Sea-Wit. 1776A. Adams in J. Adams' Fam. Lett. (1876) 186 We drank tea..on board... Some of their Jacks played very well upon the violin. 1788Dibdin Song, ‘Poor Jack’, There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft To keep watch for the life of poor Jack! 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xi. 25 There's nothing for Jack to do but to obey orders, and I went up upon the yard. 1860L. Oliphant Ld. Elgin's Mission to China I. 154 Our Jacks presented a most grotesque appearance as they returned to their ships.
b. Phr. Jack ashore: see quot. 1909. slang.
[1875R. Rowe (title) Jack afloat and ashore.] 1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 158/2 Jack ashore, Jack elevated—practically drunk, and larky. 1920Conrad Victory (1921) Author's note p. xviii, It was long after the sea-chapter of my life had been closed, but it is difficult to discard completely the characteristics of half a lifetime, and it was in something of the Jack-ashore spirit that I dropped a five-franc piece into the sauceboat. 1970E. McGirr Death pays Wages iv. 90 Jack Ashore does not check bills.
c. Colloq. phr. I'm all right, Jack: a saying indicating selfish complacency on the part of the speaker.
1910D. W. Bone Brassbounder iii. 37 It's ‘Damn you Jack—I'm all right!’ with you chaps. 1919F. Ninette Tiddley Sailors 26 They dodged as much work as possible and generally assumed the manner ‘I'm all right Jack’. 1958A. Hackney (title) Private life or I'm all right Jack. 1960News Chron. 2 May 4/6 This ‘I'm all right, Jack’ attitude towards such relatives is deplorable. 1970Times 17 Feb. 3/2 He adopted an ‘I'm all right, Jack’ attitude in leaving his convoy. 1971John & Humphry Because they're Black (1972) x. 105 Right now it is, as I said before, dog eat dog... I'm all right, Jack, damn you.
4. a. Variously applied to a serving-man or male attendant, a labourer, a man who does odd jobs, etc. See also cheap Jack, steeple-jack, etc.
1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 59/2 Having a chat with the ‘jack,’ who..seems to be wholly incapable of doing anything but lounging about. 1861― Gt. Expect. liv, A grizzled male creature, the ‘Jack’ of the little causeway. 1875Baring-Gould Yorksh. Oddities I. 131 He [a blind man] became skilful at bowls and bribed the jacks to give him hints as to the direction he was to throw. 1898Daily News 18 Oct. 6/4, I asked Mr. Morris by what stages his steeplejacks attained the handsome sum of 5l. per week. His answer is that a jack (unless already trained) begins his career by labouring.
b. Colloq. shortening of lumberjack (lumber n.1 4). N. Amer.
c1900in F. Rickaby Ballads & Songs Shanty-Boy (1926) 97 Every jack's a cant-hook man... They do some heavy loggin'. 1913Collier's 18 Jan. 21/1 The breaking up of the lumber camps and the streaming southward of thousands of ‘jacks’. 1947Sat. Even. Post 8 Mar. 20/1 The red-bearded jack came on again, head low and shielded. 1961W. E. Greening Ottawa 101 The jacks who felled the trees and the workers who stripped them were called piqueteurs. 1973L. Gutteridge Killer Pine iv. 46, I had to fire thirty Jacks last fall... Lumberjacks.
5. Cards. Name for the knave of trumps in the game of all-fours; hence gen. any one of the knaves.
1674–80Cotton Compl. Gamester ix, This game..is called All Fours, from highest, lowest, jack, and game, which is the set as some play it. Ibid., He turns up a Card, which is Trump: if Jack (and that is any knave) it is one to the dealer. 1749Martin Eng. Dict., Knave,..a jack at cards. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. viii, He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!
b. California jack: ‘a game of cards resembling all-fours’ (Cent. Dict.). Also Californian jack.
1882J. W. Steele Frontier Army Sk. (1883) 50 Here is the down-east Yankee..turning his native cunning to account at poker and California jack. 1893W. Raleigh Let. 28 July (1926) I. 177 His losses at Californian Jack..were my gains. 1921C. E. Mulford Bar-20 Three iii. 39 For two hours they sat and played California jack in plain sight of the street.
6. A figure of a man which strikes the bell on the outside of a clock. (See Jack of the clock, in 37.)
As the name of a mechanical contrivance, this sense is transitional to the next group.
1498–9in Kerry Hist. Ch. St. Lawrence, Reading (1883) 97 It. payed for the settyng of Jak with the hangyng of his bell and mendyng his hond, iiijd. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 117 K. Rich. Well, let it strike. Buck. Why let it strike? K. Rich. Because that, like a Iack, thou keep'st the stroke Betwixt thy begging and my meditation. 1602Middleton Blurt, Master Constable ii. ii, This is the night, nine the hour, and I the jack that gives warning. 1609Dekker Gvlls Horne-bk. iv, If Powles Iacks bee once vp with their elbowes, and quarrelling to strike eleuen. 1771Antiq. Sarisb. 92 On the East side is a dial of near ten feet square, with quarter jacks under it. 1869H. S. Cuming in Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc. XXV. 278 There was an ancient clock in Old St. Paul's, with Jacks to strike the hours.
II. Applied to things which in some way take the place of a lad or man, or save human labour; also more vaguely to other things with which one has to do.
* To separate contrivances, machines, utensils, etc.
7. A machine for turning the spit in roasting meat; either wound up like a clock or actuated by the draught of heated air up the chimney (smoke-jack).
1587Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 190 The iacke whiche turneth the broche. 1606Dekker Sev. Sinnes ii. (Arb.) 20 It stood altogether like a Germane clock, or an English Iack or Turne-spit, vpon skrewes and vices. 1615J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 285 The winding up of a iacke is better then musicke to his eares in Lent. 1660Pepys Diary 23 Oct., After supper we looked over..his wooden jack in his chimney, which goes with the smoke, which indeed is very pretty. 1724[see sense 11]. 1778F. Burney Diary Sept., Our roasting is not magnificent, for we have no jack. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxix, Hugh..sent it twirling round like a roasting jack. 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury xv, I have hung [it]..to the bottle-jack, so that when I wind it up it will keep turning round. 1845E. Acton Mod. Cookery (ed. 2) 155 A smoke-jack, by means of which several spits, if needful, can be kept turning at the same time.
8. A name for various contrivances consisting (solely or essentially) of a roller or winch.
1572in Lincolnsh. N. & Q. I. 165 A Iack of wood for a towel and bason. 1623T. Scott Projector 26 You should finde some Iacks faulty, and some cogges missing, whereby the wheele of Iustice is hindered in his circular course. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 51 The Wood-work belonging to the Jack, is a Barrel, or Spit-wheel and a Handing of the Winch. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 37 There were Sluices..wound up and down by a Jack. 1794Rigging & Seamanship 55 Iron Jacks, sometimes used instead of the table-wheel or back-frame wheel, differ from the latter by having an iron wheel with cogs, which work in the whirls.
9. A wooden frame for sawing wood upon.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 38 A Iack for to saw vpon fewell for fier. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 327 A Jack,..a Horse whereon they saw Wood. 1779Rees Chambers' Cycl., Jack is used also for a horse or wooden frame to saw timber upon.
10. a. A machine, usually portable, for lifting heavy weights by force acting from below; in the commonest form, having a rack and a pinion wheel or screw and a handle turned by hand. Also called lifting-jack and jack-screw.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 161 Jack,..an Engine used for the removing and commodious placing of great Timber. 1780Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 65 The machine may be applied as a jack to raise great weights a little way from the ground. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 282 Fig. 341 represents the common or simple hand jack. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 236 Hydraulic lifting jack for railway engines and carriages. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Double-jack. See
b. See quots.
1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Jack..for supporting the axle⁓tree of a cart in order to remove one of the wheels. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Jack, a contrivance, consisting of a lever and fulcrum, used in washing carriages, to lift one side so that the wheel..may run round freely; sometimes called a ‘carriage-jack’.
11. A contrivance for pulling off boots; a bootjack. rare or Obs. (exc. in the compound).
1679Trials Wakeman, etc. 22 He pull'd off his Boots..upon the Frame of a Table, or else upon a Jack. 1724Watts Logic i. iv. §8 So foot-boys, who had frequently the common name of Jack given them, were kept to turn the spit, or to pull off their master's boots; but when instruments were invented for both these services, they were both called jacks.
12. Mining.
a. ‘A kind of water-engine, turned by hand, used in mines. Staff.’ (Halliwell.)
b. A wooden wedge or gad used in mining for assisting in the cleaving of strata.
c. (See quot. 1851.)
1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 31 Whilst two pits or a pit and a staple are being sunk simultaneously by means of two gins, one of them, to prevent mistakes, is usually called a jack. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Jack,..a wedge. 1864Webster, Jack,..10. A wooden wedge used by miners to separate rocks after blasting.
13. In many names of instruments in which it is combined with a defining word: e.g. lifting-jack, pegging-jack, shackle-jack, thill-jack, etc. q.v. Also builder's jack, a temporary staging or bracket projecting outwards from a window, used in cleaning, painting, or repairing; also called window-jack (Knight Dict. Mech. 1874). round jack, ‘a stand for holding a hat while the brim is trimmed to shape’ (Cent. Dict.).
** To parts of instruments or machines.
14. In the virginal, spinet, and harpsichord: An upright piece of wood fixed to the back of the key-lever, and fitted with a quill which plucked the string as the jack rose on the key's being pressed down. (By Shakes. and some later writers erron. applied to the key.)
Also applied to a similar upright piece terminating in the ‘tangent’ in a clavichord, or serving to raise the damper, or the hammer, in early pianofortes; sometimes also to the hopper, or a part of it, in a modern pianoforte.
1598Florio, Saltarélli, the iacks of a paire of virginals. c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxxviii, How oft..Do I enuie those Iackes that nimble leape, To kisse the tender inward of thy hand. 1604Middleton Father Hubbard's T. Wks. (Bullen) VIII. 97 Her teeth chattered in her head, and leaped up and down like virginal-jacks. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies xxxii. (1658) 335 Like the jack of a Virginall, which striketh the sounding cord. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 229 The Treble Notes of a Harpsichord would be overpowered by the Bass ones, did not the Bits of Cloth affixed to the Jacks check the Vibrations of the Strings in due time. 1896A. J. Hipkins Pianoforte 103 The merit of introducing in the square piano the ‘hopper’—a jack with a spring and working in a notch or nose forming the front part of a lever, technically known as the ‘underhammer’—belongs to John Geib, who in 1786 took out a patent for this improvement.
15. In various machines.
a. An oscillating lever, such as those in a stocking-frame or knitting-machine.
1764Croker, etc. Dict. Arts s.v. Stocking, The stocking⁓frame..the wheel by whose motion the jacks are drawn together upon the needles. 1829Glover's Hist. Derby I. 242 The stocking-frame invented by the Rev. William Lea, or Lee..in 1589, was very simple, with jacks only. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. viii. 128/2 The stocking-frame has a series of vibrating levers, called jacks, which..throw the..yarn into such curvatures as enable the needles to form the loops.
b. Weaving. = Heck-box: see heck n.1 8.
1875in Knight Dict. Mech.
attrib.1844Whittier Swedenborg Pr. Wks. 1889 III. 274 Each human being who watches beside jack or power loom feels more or less intensely that it is a solemn thing to live.
c. Spinning. A coarse bobbin and fly-frame operating on the sliver from the carding-machine and passing the product to the fine roving-machine, or fitting it therefor.
1875in Knight Dict. Mech.
d. Telegr., etc. A socket or receptacle having one or more pairs of terminals and designed so that insertion of a suitable plug enables a device to be quickly introduced into a circuit.
1891J. Poole Pract. Telephone Handbk. vii. 128 The effect of inserting a plug in one of the jacks is that the end of the plug lifts the line spring r from pin y. 1905Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy (new ed.) xi. 233 The home sections and the multiple panels are made up of ‘jacks’, mounted in strips. Ibid. 234 The ‘jacks’ consist of two springs of unequal length and a collar or socket. 1926J. L. Pritchard Broadcast Reception xi. 185 The last three jacks have filament controlling contacts by which the insertion of the plug automatically lights the filaments. 1970Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 38/2 (Advt.), Lloyd's AM/FM digital clock radio... Features..earphone jack and solid-state circuitry. 1971R. Thomas Backup Men xiii. 119 Is there another jack in this room?.. Can you get another phone and plug it in?
16. In carriages: see quot.
1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 78 Spring Jack. Fig. 11. This is a small engine fixed to the bottom of the spring... Its use is to heighten or lower the body. Ibid. 80 A pair of spring jacks.
*** To things of smaller than the normal size.
†17. A very small amount; the least bit; a whit. Obs. colloq.
1530Palsgr. 233/2 Iacke or whitte nicquet, as I wyll nat gyve you a whyt.
18. a. In the game of Bowls, A smaller bowl placed as a mark for the players to aim at.
1611Shakes. Cymb. ii. i. 2 Was there euer man had such lucke? when I kist the Iacke vpon an vp-cast, to be hit away? 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wit & Mirth Wks. ii. 193/2 The marke which they ayme at hath sundry names and Epithites, as a Blocke, a Iacke, and a Mistris. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 509 If I have a bowl in my hand and want it to touch the jack at the other end of the green. 1864Athenæum No. 1920. 209/1 A bias that should reach the jack. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports iii. i. iii. §3. 683 The jack shall not be changed during a game, except by mutual consent of the players.
b. = jack-stone; usu. pl.; also, a game played with these (see also quot. 1908).
1900S. R. Crockett Little Anna Mark xii. 97 Playing at quoits, tops, marbles, tic-tac-toe, jacks, knuckle-bones. 1908Dialect Notes III. 323 Jack,..a piece of metal with five tines or protuberances, used in the game of jacks. Jacks, an indoor catching game played with small five-tined metal pieces. 1922A. C. Sies Spontaneous & Supervised Play xix. 293 ‘Jacks’ is a game in which throwing and catching are not the main centers of interest; rather are the attention and interest focussed on what is done between catches. 1960H. Miller Nexus (1964) i. 11 Do you know how to skate?.. Did you ever play jacks?
19. slang.
a. A farthing. ? Obs.
b. A counter made to resemble a sovereign: so half-jack.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack, a Farthing. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 349 The ‘card-counters’, or..the ‘small coins’, are now of a very limited sale. The slang name for these articles is ‘Jacks’ and ‘Half Jacks’. Ibid., It is hardly possible that any one who had ever received a sovereign in payment, could be deceived by..a Jack. 1873Slang Dict., Jacks, and half-jacks, card counters, resembling in size and appearance sovereigns and half-sovereigns.
c. Money. slang (orig. U.S.).
1890M. Townsend Index U.S.A. 427 The..verbal wealth of the United States language is illustrated in an inquiry for a loan of money; by using any of the following words in conjunction with the inquiry, Have you any..Jacks, [etc.]. 1920Collier's 28 Aug. 33/2 The fans which paid their jack to see a fight would be gypped. 1932J. Dos Passos 1919 24 This way every bastardly tourist with a little jack thinks he can hire you. 1945‘N. Shute’ Most Secret 111, I hadn't that much jack... I worked a passage home. 1960A. Prior in Pick of Today's Short Stories XI. 184, I asked him..to think of the new suits he could get..when the jack came in.
d. slang. Also jacks, jax. Five pounds; a five-pound note. Cf. Jack's alive s.v. sense 37.
1958F. Norman Bang to Rights iii. 150 I'll bet you a jacks that I nick you. 1968Gloss. Brit. Argot, Jack, five pounds. 1968Guardian 13 Apr. 7/3 ‘That one,’ says the dealer from Islington, ‘that one we know she died in; so it'll cost you a jax.’.. Five quid for a shroud; cheap at the price. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 230 ‘Couldn't lend me a Jack's, Terry, could you?’ ‘Sure.’ He gave the DS a fiver. 1972K. Royce Miniatures Frame v. 64 From under a pottery sugar jar..protruded two jacks.
20. A quarter of a pint: = the imperial gill, or half the northern gill (q.v.). local.
1736Pegge Kenticisms s.v. Tamsin, Jack, a measure, and Gill, another. 1787Grose Provinc. Gloss., Jack, half a pint. Yorks. 1796H. Glasse Cookery xxiii. 357 To a pound of sugar put a jack of water. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss., Jack, a quarter of a pint measure. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Jack, a quarter of a pint measure, and the quantity contained in one. Also in Holderness, Sheffield, Mid. Yorksh. Gloss.
21. Building. A small brick or ‘bat’ used as a closer at the end of a course. ? Obs.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 271 Imagine FEG to be a Stretcher, or a Stretching Archytrave..and imagining it to be thus divided; then EF is called a Header; or a heading Archytrave, and EG is called a Jak.
22. Naut. Short for jack cross-tree (see 34 b).
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiv, Though I could handle the brig's [fore-royal] easily, I found my hands full with this, especially as there were no jacks to the ship. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Jack,..also a common term for the jack or cross-trees. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 80 Rove through a block under the jack. Ibid. 84 The jack at the fore-top-gallant mast-head.
**** To other things.
23. A vessel used in soap-making.
c1865Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 96/1 They are poured off into vessels called ‘jacks’.
24. A post-chaise. slang or colloq.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Jack, a post-chaise. 1816Prescott Let. in Ticknor Life (1864) 36 We travelled upon jacks, which is the pleasantest conveyance in the world both for its sociability and the little fatigue which attends it.
25. A schooner-rigged vessel used in the Newfoundland fisheries. Also jack boat.
1891Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries 1887 App. VI. 529 The jack varies from 5 to 15 tons; is schooner-rigged, carrying three sails as a rule. 1895St. Nicholas Apr. 448/2 The gashers [were] dashing in and out among the punts and jacks (stoutly built two-stickers larger than gashers). 1908Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 3/3 A little jack (much the same in rig as our North Sea smacks). 1937Beaver June 29/2 Bill had a nice little jack (small fishing schooner, in this case with outriggers on the quarters instead of booms). 1951Maine Coast Fisherman Oct. 26 A typical Newfoundland jack seen in the cruise to the Bras D'Or Lakes. 19549th Census of Canada 1951 IX. Table 4 Jack boats... Bateaux ‘Jack’. 1965National Fisherman Mar. 24/2 The ‘jack schooners’ or ‘jack boats’ (so-called in Cape Breton), or ‘two-spar boats’ (as they are known in Newfoundland) were 40′ to 50′ from stemhead to taffrail. They were gaff-rigged on both masts and they usually carried a longish bowsprit. 1969H. Horwood Newfoundland xx. 157 The sons of men who had built windjammers were confined to building trap skiffs and jack boats.
26. A portable cresset or fire-basket used in hunting or fishing at night. U.S.
1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 61 Standing with my eyes below the level of the flaming jack.
27. A tablet of heroin. slang.
1967M. M. Glatt et al. Drug Scene 115 Jack, heroin tablet. 1971R. Busby Deadlock xii. 177 He's been cranking up on horse [sc. heroin]. His last jack is wearing off, and he's grovelling on the floor for another pill.
III. In names of animals. (Chiefly as an abbreviation of the fuller names treated under sense 38.)
28. Applied to the male of various animals, chiefly in comb.: see 38; also simply:
a. A male hawk, esp. merlin (= jack-merlin).
1623Cockeram iii. s.v. Hawks, A Merlin, the male is called a Iack. The Castrill male a Iack. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Hawk, The female..is much larger, stronger, and more couragious than the male; which is distinguished therefrom by some diminutive name..that of the merlin, jack.
b. (Short for jackass 1.) A male ass, esp. one kept for breeding mules. U.S.
1799Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 197, I have two or three young Jacks..and several she asses, that I would dispose of. 1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 189 A gentleman..took it into his head that it would be an immense public advantage to introduce a breed of mules, and accordingly imported three jacks to stock the neighbourhood. 1873Longfellow Wayside Inn, Monk of Casal-Maggiore v, He leisurely untied From head and neck the halter of the jack.
29. Short for jack-rabbit.
1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 386/2 The Doctor's experience with a jack rabbit was one of the most amusing of the hunt... One day he wounded a big jack, and as he went to pick it up, it arose upon its hind legs.
30. Name for various birds.
a. Short for jack-daw, jack-curlew (see 38), Cornish jack, the Cornish chough, jack-snipe.
b. As the second element in various names, as curlew jack, jumping jack, whisky jack: see these words.
1803–4Hawker Diary (1893) II. 358 Curlew jacks (whimbrels). 1886Pall Mall G. 15 Dec. 4/2 It may be said both of full snipe and jack that they afford not only the best, but the most legitimate kind of sport.
c. Austral. A laughing jackass, a kookaburra. Cf. Jacko, Jacky 1 c.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 216/1 The bird is generally called only a Jackass, and this is becoming contracted into the simple abbreviation of Jack. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 26/2 Jack came to the conclusion that it was, as tucker, a washout, and departed. 1949Geogr. Mag. Feb. 374/1 Hence such names for the kookaburra as laughing jackass, jack.
31. Name of various fishes, etc.
a. A young or small pike; also sometimes used generically as a name for the pike. (Pl. jack or jacks.)
1587Harrison England iii. iii. (1878) ii. 18 The pike as he ageth, receiueth diuerse names,..from a pod to a iacke, from a iacke to a pickerell, from a pickerell to a pike. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 279 Old great Pikes are very hard, tough, and ill to digest; young ones, called Jacks, are contrariwise too waterish and moist. a1658Cleveland Count. Com. Man Wks. (1677) 97 The Jack may come to swallow the Pike, as the Interest often eats out the Principal. 1711Addison Spect. No. 108 ⁋5 The Gentleman..had the Pleasure of seeing the huge Jack, he had caught, served up for the first Dish. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 47 A method which I have taken more pikes and jacks with, than any other way. 1825Brockett, Jack, a young male pike, under a foot in length. 1883Gd. Words 12 Jack may be caught in the river Roding.
b. Also applied to several American fishes: as the pike-perch, Stizostedium vitreum; a scorpænoid fish, Sebastodes paucispinis; several carangoid fishes, esp. Caranx pisquetos and Seriola carolinensis; and the pampano, Trachynotus carolinus. (Cent. Dict.)
1897Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 231/2 Other game fishes of Florida are the ‘jack’, or crevallé, also called carvalho.
c. With defining word. buffalo-jack, the Caranx pisquetos (also called simply jack: see b). five-fingered jack: popular name in U.S. for a starfish. goggle-eyed jack: see goggler 2. hickory-jack: (a) the Caranx pisquetos or one of several other carangoid fishes (see b); (b) the hickory-shad, Pomolobus mediocris.
d. poor Jack (also dry Jack or dried Jack), a name for dried hake; also called Poor John.
1667Lond. Gaz. No. 218/2 This week arrived here 9 English ships, whereof 4 with Pilchards, 4 with poor Jack, and one with Herrings. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland xiii. 67 They pay..half a pound of dried Jack. 1682J. Collins Making Salt Eng. 93 That sort of Cod that is caught near the Shore, and on the Coast of Newfoundland and dryed, is called Poor-Jack. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4026/3 Lading, consisting of..Dry Codfish, Dry Jack, Hogslard. 1708W. King Cookery 103 Sometimes poor jack and onions are his dish And then he saints those friars who stink of fish.
†32. A kind of worm used as bait by anglers. Obs.
1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §8 (1689) 36 Crabtree⁓worm or Jack.
IV.
33. In names of plants. pop. or colloq. a. A variety of polyanthus: ‘one of the forms of the so-called ‘hose-in-hose’ polyanthus, having the calyx more or less coloured, and partly assuming the character of the corolla’ (Britten and Holland Plant-n. 1879). Cf. Jack-in-the-box 8 b.
b. Name for a single carnation fraudulently sold as a choice variety.
1878Gard. Chron. 16 Mar. 340 (Britt. & Holl.) Jacks is the horticultural slang designation for single carnations, which are grown specially for the trading hawker..and sold to the unsuspicious as best named varieties. 1882Garden 16 Sept. 250/3 [He] has been victimised by the sharp dealers in single Carnations, usually called ‘Jacks’.
V. Combinations and compounds.
34. a. Combinations denoting things, etc. (chiefly mechanical or other contrivances), or connected with those senses of the simple word which denote things: jack-back [back n.2], (a) in Brewing, a vessel with a perforated bottom for straining the wort from the hops (also called hop-back: see hop n.1 5 b); (b) ‘a tank which receives the cooled wort in a vinegar-factory’ (Knight); jack-engine (Coal-mining), a donkey-engine; jack-file (see quots.); jack-fishing, (a) fishing for jack (sense 31); (b) U.S., fishing at night by means of a jack or cresset; jack-flyer, the fly-wheel of a roasting-jack; jack-hammer, jackhammer, a portable rock-drill worked by compressed air; jack-head pump, ‘a form of lift-pump for mines and deep borings, in which the delivery-pipe is secured to the cylinder by a goose-neck’ (Knight Dict. Mech.); jack-hunting U.S., hunting by means of a jack-light (sense 26); jack-ladder Naut., (a) ‘one with wooden steps and side ropes’ (Knight), = Jacob's ladder 2; (b) = jack-chain 2; jack-lamp, (a) a Davy-lamp with a glass cylinder outside the gauze (Gresley Gloss. 1883); (b) U.S. = sense 26; jack-lantern U.S., (a) = sense 26; (b) = Jack-o'-lantern 3; jack-maker, a maker of jacks, i.e. (usually) of roasting-jacks; jack-pin Naut., a belaying-pin; jack-pit (Coal-mining), ‘a shallow pit-shaft in a mine communicating with an overcast, or at a fault’ (Gresley Gloss. 1883); jack-plug Electr., a single-pronged plug for use with a jack (sense 15 d); jack-pot, (a) in draw-poker, a pot or pool that has to accumulate until one of the players can open the betting with a pair of jacks or better; hence fig.; also, any large prize, as from a lottery or a gambling machine; often, a prize that accumulates until it is won; to hit the jack-pot: to win such a prize; to have an extraordinary stroke of luck, (b) (see quot. 1914); jack-pulley, the pulley of a roasting-jack; jack-roll, a winch or windlass turned directly by handles; jack-roller (see quots.); so jack-roll v. trans., jack-rolling; jack roving-frame = jack-frame 2; jack shaft, any of various kinds of auxiliary or intermediate shafts which are driven by another shaft or by a set of gears, esp. in locomotives and motor vehicles (see quots.); jack-sinker, each of a series of thin metal plates suspended from the front ends of the jacks in a stocking-frame or knitting-machine (see 15 a), and serving, in conjunction with the lead-sinkers, to form loops upon the thread; jack-socket Electr. = jack n.1 15 d; jack-spinner, a workman who operates a jack in spinning (see 15 c); jack-towel, a long towel with the ends sewed together, suspended from a roller. See also jack-chain, etc.
1764Croker, etc. Dict. Arts s.v. Brew-house, The *jack-back..is placed something lower than the under-backs, and has a communication with them all; and out of this back the wort is pumped into the coppers. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 568 The jack-back, which receives the wort after it has been boiled with the hops. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 175 The liquor is pumped..into a large reservoir, called a jack-back, in which it is allowed to remain until all the yest has collected on the surface.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Jack Engine (N.), the engine for raising men, débris, &c. in a sinking pit.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 303/1 *Jack-File, a broad File: with this Jack-Wheels have their Teeth cut in them. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 52 A Jack-file, is a broad File somewhat thin on both Edges, and stronger in the Middle.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 54 Jack Tackle of every description..Tackle for bottom and *jack fishing.
1731Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope I. 327 She..set her tongue a going with the fury of a *Jack-flyer.
1930Engineering 24 Oct. 511/2 A battery of about 45 *jackhammers..drilled two lines of holes. 1936Economist 12 Oct. 714/1 While this may be possible with machine drills in development faces, it is difficult at the moment to see how such appliances could be used with mobile jackhammers in stoping. 1971Daily Tel. 2 Aug. 20/5 A specially-designed percussion drill similar to a jack-hammer. 1972Southerly XXXII. 102 He works a ship and has about the delicacy of a jackhammer.
1793Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) V. 210 In the manner of (what is called) a *Jack Head Pump.
1899Contemp. Rev. May 669, I went out after dark to kill a deer by the unsportsmanlike method of *jack-hunting.
1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 345/1 From the rear end of the mill..a ‘*jack ladder’ is constructed of heavy timber. 1929Ibid. XIV. 482/1 An endless spiked conveyor known as a jack ladder.
1888Harper's Mag. Sept. 510 Occasionally a caribou is killed at night by the light of a *jack-lamp while seeking the grass growing in some boatable stream.
1881Pall Mall G. 14 July 5/1, I have stood motionless on a flat rock..amid the rushing water, with poised three-pronged spear behind a *jack-lantern, waiting for a sturgeon to come there.
1727Swift Petit. Colliers, etc., The humble petition of the colliers, cooks, cook-maids, blacksmiths, *jack-makers, brasiers, and others.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Jack-pins, a name applied to the fife⁓rail pins.
1931Moyer & Wostrel Radio Handbk. 874 (Index), *Jack plugs. 1953W. MacLanachan Television & Radar Encycl. 103/2 Jack and Jack plug, a socket with two or more contacts..into which a jack plug with corresponding contacts can be inserted. 1973Jack plug [see jack socket below].
1881Harvard Lampoon 6 Apr. 40/2 Poker-playing is not to be learned in one evening, and *Jack Pots are often a snake in the grass. 1884Virginia (Nev.) Chron. 1 Oct. 3/3 Old Bill [the warden] just lays back until there is a good jack-pot of trout in hand, and then he makes a bold bluff and walks off with it. 1886‘M. Kershaw’ Colonial Facts & Fictions 229 They call this [growing poker] pool a Jack Pot. 1887Grip (Toronto) 21 May 10/2 What was written of..was a jack-pot. 1895Harper's Mag. Mar. 536 He suggested a round of jack-pots. 1897Star 28 July 2/5 The jackpot was worth it, for Miller represented the accumulated prize as having risen to {pstlg}21,160. 1902L. McKee Land of Nome 123 On the occasion of his getting into a ‘jack-pot’ (some trouble) he had hunted Nome after me for legal advice. 1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 48 Jackpot, a dilemma; a difficult strait; a retribution; trouble; an arrest. 1923G. Ade Let. 24 Oct. (1973) 97, I..have been rather interested to learn that the Governor did not show you any degree of gratitude for your work in organizing the jack⁓pot. 1944Newsweek 25 Dec. 67/1 The ‘Vick's Vaper’ had indeed hit the jack-pot. 1949Radio Times 15 July 6/3 We saw our first American audience-participation show. The prizes included a diamond wrist watch... The jackpot was 1,250 dollars! 1956N. Streatfeild Judith ii. 150 Those sort of weak good looks..quite often hit the jackpot. 1959Maclean's Mag. 4 July 34/3 Canada House receives SOS messages from ‘distressed Canadians’, the official designation for those who get themselves into various jackpots. 1962Sunday Times Suppl. 10 June 10 There is always the chance that one or other number or artist will hit the jackpot. 1963Listener 28 Mar. 568/3 Cabinet Ministers are hauled out in front of the cameras and asked increasingly impertinent leading questions. A week or two ago Mr. Butler copped one of these jackpots from Robert Mackenzie: did he, or did he not, want to be Prime Minister? 1967Times 18 Dec. 5/6 A jackpot may be opened by any player who holds a pair of jacks or a higher ranking hand. 1970New Scientist 14 May 341/1 Rolls-Royce landed a jack-pot order from the USA for the supply of aircraft engines. 1973‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Answer i. 10 It was nice to be fairly widely read... It would be even nicer if one day she contrived to hit the jackpot.
1675J. Smith Chr. Relig. App. ii. 13 Such *Jack-pullies, and Weights..Atoms, which our modern Wits have fancied for the Springs of his Motion.
1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 28 Sinking with *Jack Rowl, or by Mens winding up the Rowl. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 498 This was done by the aid of a ‘jack roll’, which is like the windlass over a common well.
1923N. Anderson Hobo i. 5 The ‘*jack roller’,..the man who robs his fellows, while they are drunk or asleep. Ibid. iv. 51 ‘*Jack rolling’ may be anything from picking a man's pocket in a crowd to robbing him while he is drunk or asleep. 1926Flynn's 16 Jan. 638/1 Jack rollin' th' workstiffs was like takin' candy from th' kids. 1930C. R. Shaw Jack-Roller vii. 85, I was in a predicament, for I had no money, and you can't enjoy life without dough. My buddy, being an old ‘jack-roller’, suggested ‘jack-rolling’ as a way out of the delima [sic]. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 171 Thieves who specialize..on lumberjacks or other seasonal workers who get paid off in a lump sum at the end of the season are called jack rollers.
1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. i. 31 The ‘*Jack roving-frame’ in which the revolving can contained a bobbin whereon the roving was wound as fast as made.
1896T. Thornley Cotton Spinning Calculations ii. 70 The *jack shaft of the frame makes 298 revolutions per minute. 1901J. Black Illustr. Carpenter & Builder Ser.: Scaffolding 72 The electric motor..with jack-shaft and friction drive. 1907R. B. Whitman Motor-Car Princ. ix. 146 The jack shaft..is a shaft passing across the car, and bearing on its ends the sprockets by which the wheels are driven. 1925A. W. Judge Mechanism of Car vii. 105 The object of the differential is to enable either jack shaft to rotate at a different speed to the other..whilst transmitting the drive. 1936W. Staniar Mech. Power Transmission Handbk. v. 144 The jackshaft is used for ratio purposes and also to break up long center distances. Ibid. 145 Jack⁓shafts. Location.—Either between head and line shafts, or between line- and countershafts. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 465/2 Jack shaft, an intermediate shaft used in locomotives having collective drive; the jack shaft is geared to the motor shaft and carries cranks which drive the coupling rods on the driving wheels. 1950Engineering 23 June 699/2 The final drive is through reduction gearing to a jackshaft which is fitted with pressed-on balanced cranks; thence the drive is by rods to the crankpins of the middle coupled wheels [of the Diesel locomotive]. 1962Diesel Traction (Brit. Railways Board) 266 Jackshaft, a shaft with cranks at each end mounted across the frames for driving the road wheels through connecting rods. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XII. 240/2 A countershaft, especially when used as an auxiliary shaft between two other shafts, is termed a jack shaft.
1875Ure's Dict. Arts II. 817 The *jack sinkers falling successively from the loops on every alternate needle.
1970J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers i. 14 Modern amplifiers are often equipped with a *jack socket wired to accommodate stereo headphones. 1973Radio & Electronics Constructor XXVI. 700/2 A suitable circuit for a miniature 2·5 mm. or 3·5mm. switched jack socket is given in Fig. 4, and this causes the speaker to be silenced when the jack plug is inserted.
1819Pantologia s.v. Printing, The carrying-roller..the receiving-rollers..are connected by a piece of linen, woollen, or hair-cloth, in the manner of a *jack-towel, sewed round them. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxv, A clean jack towel behind the door.
b. In some uses jack has a diminutive force or meaning, denoting things which are smaller or slighter than the normal ones; as jack-arch, ‘an arch whose thickness is only of one brick’ (Gwilt Archit. 1842–76); jack-block Naut. (see quot.); jack-bowl, the jack at bowls; = sense 18; jack-cross-tree Naut.: see quot. 1867; jack-rafter, -rib, -timber, one shorter than the full length. (See also 18–22, 30, 31, 33 b, 38 b. and jack n.3)
1885Harper's Mag. Mar. 525/2 The windows are capped with *jack-arches of red brick.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 168 *Jack-block, a small block seized to the topgallant⁓mast-head, for sending the topgallant-yards up and down.
1697R. Pierce Bath Mem. ii. ii. 264 He had not Strength..to throw the *Jack-Bowl half over the Green. 1803Sporting Mag. XXII. 307 In shape and size like a jack-bowl, used on a bowling-green.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xx. 61 The quarter boom-irons off her lower yards; her *jack-cross-trees sent down. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Jack cross-trees, single iron cross-trees at the head of long top-gallant masts, to support royal and skysail masts.
1757Langley Builder's Jewell 33 Which fill up with small and *Jack Rafters at Pleasure. 1881Young Every man his own Mechanic §1336. 615 It will be noticed that these rafters which are called jack-rafters decrease gradually in length.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 110 In the construction of groins,..the ribs that are shorter than the whole width are termed *Jack-ribs.
Ibid. 225 *Jack Timber, a timber shorter than the whole length of other pieces in the same range.
35. As the first element in a personal name used in a specific sense:
a. Jack Adams, a fool.
b. Phr. before one can say Jack Robinson: in a very short time, very quickly or suddenly. (See also Jack Ketch.)
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack-adams, a Fool. a1704T. Brown Lett. fr. Dead ii. Wks. 1760 II. 220 That from a quaker in the other world, I should be metamorphosed into a jack-adams in the lower one. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Jack Adams, a stubborn fool.
b.1778F. Burney Evelina (1792) II. xxxvii, I'd do it as soon as say Jack Robinson. 1814M. W. Shelley in Dowden Life Shelley (1887) I. 453 The white and flying cloud of noon, that is gone before one can say ‘Jack Robinson’. 1903[see dogie, dogy]. 1942G. Mitchell Laurels are Poison xvii. 181 It'll be all over College before you can say Jack Robinson. 1956N. Mitford Noblesse Oblige 43 That picture will appear at Christies before you can say Jack Robinson, though there is no necessity whatever for such a sale.
c. Jack Scott = Jock Scott (see Jock1 1).
1908R. Bagot Anthony Cuthbert xxix. 378 ‘There are some grilse come up. What do you think would be a good fly to use?’..‘I should put on a small Jack Scott.’ 1915J. Webster Dear Enemy 167 He..got out his case of fishing-flies, and gallantly presented Betsy and me with..a ‘Jack Scott’..to make hat-pins.
d. Jack Johnson [from the name of a noted American Negro boxer, whose nickname was ‘The Big Smoke’], = Black Maria 2.
1914Illustr. London News 10 Oct. 504/1 The German ‘Jack Johnson’ siege-guns. Ibid. 505 The gigantic projectile which on bursting makes the black smoke called ‘Jack Johnson’. 1919[see Black Maria 2]. 1962J. B. Priestley Margin Released ii. iii. 101 The German heavy batteries..dropped ‘Jack Johnsons’ among us.
e. Jack Jones: rhyming slang for ‘alone’; usu. in phr. on one's Jack Jones: on one's own; alone. Cf. sense 2 e above.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 130 Jack Jones, alone. 1935‘G. Orwell’ Clergyman's Daughter ii. 156 A good night's kip all alone... All on your Jack Jones. 1958P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 168 You're on your jack jones again. What do you do? 1972A. Draper Death Penalty xx. 134 You're on your Jack Jones. Ben's deserted you.
36. Prefixed to another noun denoting a person, a thing personified, a trade, or a quality, so as to form a quasi-proper name or nickname, often applied familiarly or contemptuously; as Jack Blunt (a blunt fellow), Jack boot(s (the ‘Boots’ at an inn), Jack bragger, Jack breech, Jack fellow, Jack fiddler, Jack fool, Jack jailer, Jack lord, Jack lout, Jack malapert, Jack mate, Jack meddler, Jack monkey, Jack Presbyter, Jack Priest; † Jack Drum: see drum n.1 3 b; Jack Dusty Naut. slang (see quots.); Jack Frost, frost or frosty weather personified; † jack-gentleman, a man of low birth or manners making pretensions to be a gentleman, an insolent fellow, an upstart; so † jack-gentlewoman (rare); Jack Mormon U.S., a non-Mormon on friendly terms with Mormons; also, a nominal or backsliding Mormon; Jack Nasty, ‘a term of reproach for a sneak or a sloven’ (Davies); Jack northwester, the northwest wind; † Jack-sauce, a saucy or impudent fellow; Jack Shalloo, Shilloo Naut. slang (see quots.); Jack sprat, a little fellow, a dwarf; † Jack-stickler, a meddlesome or interfering person, a busybody; Jack Strop Naut. slang (see quots.).
1898Daily News 17 Nov. 5/4 He was at once a *Jack Blunt and equal to a trick.
1803Censor 1 March 31 Six-pence to the chamber-maid, six-pence to the ostler, and six-pence to the *jack-boot. 1824Hist. Gaming 10 The Jack-boots of an Inn.
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 873/2 We shall see *iack-braggers, truce breakers, tratours full of crueltie & malice.
1522Skelton Why not to Court 331 No man dare come to the speche Of this gentell *Iacke breche.
1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 65 Scuruy-*Iack⁓dog-Priest: by gar, mee vill cut his eares.
1591Greene Disc. Coosnage 26 With a broken pate or two he was paid, and like *Iacke drum, faire and orderly turned out of doores. 1608Topsell Serpents (1658) 780 They made no more adoe, but gave her Jack-drummes entertainment, thrusting her out of doors by the head and shoulders. 1649J. Taylor (Water P.) Wand. to West 16 The Hostes being very willing to give the courteous entertainement of Jack Drum, commanded me very kindely to get me out of dores.
c1931W. N. T. Beckett Few Naval Customs 18 The junior member of the Paymaster's Victualling staff is known as The Dusty Boy or *Jack Dusty. 1938‘Giraldus’ Merry Matloe Again 263 Jack Dusty, a ship's steward's assistant, i.e. any member of the supply branch below the rating of a petty officer. 1974P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry x. 85 In the Second World War, destroyers had a Jack Dusty, a supply assistant who kept ledgers listing all the stocks.
1627Bp. Wren Serm. 17 Be *Iack-fellow, sit still, or be covered.
15971st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. i. 1397 The divell of the musition is he acquainted with but onlye *Iacke fidler.
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 522 Go fro the wyndow, *Iakke fool she sayde.
1826Sporting Mag. XVII. 376 *Jack Frost, however, put a veto on our morning's sport. 1872C. Hardwick Trad. Lancash. 53 The blustering of old Boreas, and the frigid embrace of ‘Jack Frost’.
1667Answ. Quest. out of North 13 What, Sir, do you think that it is fit for every *Jack-Gentleman to speak thus to a Bishop? 1710Answ. Sacheverell's Serm. 9 They despised the Gentry at such a rate, that it was a common thing to call them Jack Gentleman.
1787Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode upon Ode Wks. 1812 I. 443 Yet men there are (how strange are Love's decrees!) Whose palates even *Jack-gentlewomen please.
1568Skinner tr. Montanus' Inquis. 24 a, As well *Iacke Iayler, as my Lord Judge.
a1689Bp. Ward in W. Pope Life (1697) 47, I met some *Jack Lords going into my Grove, but I think I have nettled them.
c1584Robin Conscience 49 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 229 To keepe open hovse for euery *Jack lovt.
1477–8Bk. Curtesye (Caxton) 491 Playe not *Iack malapert [Oriel MS. Iakke malaperte], that is to saye Beware of presumpcion.
c1530H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. 80 Then will all your Elders thinke you be with him *Iack mate.
1602Withal's Dict. 263/1 A *Iacke⁓medler, or busie-body, in euerie mans matter, ardelio.
a1563Bale in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. xii. 114 He plays *jack monkey at the altar, with his turns and half-turns.
1845Quincy (Ill.) Whig 30 Oct. 2/1 *Jack Mormons, and sympathizers abroad may croak and groan over the poor Mormons. 1846Jack-mormon [see big-head 3 b]. 1890Congress. Rec. 2 Apr. 2941/2 In our country we have a genus homo called ‘Jack-Mormon’,..a class of individuals who do not belong to the Mormon church,..yet who are ever found doing the bidding of Mormon priests. 1947Time 21 July 21/1 The number of backsliding ‘jack-Mormons’ is increasing.
1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iii. 67 The idea of equality or inequality..doesn't [enter their heads] till it's put there by *Jack Nastys or fine ladies' maids.
1550Bale Apol. 28 He playeth the part of *Iack Nitigo, as y⊇ saying is, he seith but he wyll not se, or els that he seyeth a smal moate & letteth the great beame passe by.
1749Capt. Standige in Naval Chron. III. 205 We experienced..uncommonly severe *jack northwesters.
1708Yorkshire-Racers 14 *Jack Presbyter can cry, God save the King.
1598Shakes. Merry W. i. iv. 123 By gar, I vill kill de *Iack-Priest.
c1550Bk. Robin Conscience 240 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 242 *Jack savce..thov lovt, thov hoddie peake. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 148 His reputation is as arrant a villaine and a Iacke sawce, as euer his blacke shoo trodd vpon Gods ground. 1702Vanbrugh False Friend iii. ii, Why how now, Jack-sauce? why, how now, Presumption?
1904E. P. Statham Story of ‘Britannia’ iv. 70 This lad [sc. an officer cadet]..was already rather a favourite, being of the breezy type, which sailors call a ‘*Jack-shilloo’. 1929F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 73 Jack Shalloo, a braggart according to its old naval meaning. Nowadays it is applied to a happy-go-lucky, careless officer and hence a slack ship is called a Jack Shalloo ship. 1962Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 65/1 Jack Shalloo, naval officer whose aim in life is to be popular with the men. A corruption of John Chellew, an officer who earned himself the title Popularity Jack.
1611Shakes. Cymb. ii. i. 22 Euery *Iacke-Slaue hath his belly full of Fighting.
1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 312, I should make myself full amends of *Jack Spaniard.
c1570Marr. Wit & Science iv. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 357 Heard you ever such a counsel of such a *Jack sprat? a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack-sprat, a Dwarf, or very little Fellow, a Hop-on-my-thumb. [Nursery Rime, Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean.]
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 853/2 Howe many *iacke sticklers are there nowe adayes..which..will needes shewe them selues to be somwhat by mouing troubles? 1643Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Unl. lxxxv. §837 A prying medler (busie-body, jack-stickler) crouds in and intrudeth..where it nothing concernes him.
1945Baker Austral. Lang. viii. 162 *Jack Strop, a new recruit who tries to pass himself off as an old hand. 1946J. Irving Royal Navalese 98 Jack Strop, the Mess Deck's sobriquet for a conceited, opinionated sort of man.
37. Substantive phrases with specific senses. Jack among the maids, a gallant, a ladies' man; Jack at a pinch (see quots.); † Jack-hold-my-staff, a servile attendant; Jack in office, ‘a consequential petty official’ (Davies); also attrib. (cf. Jack out of office); Jack in the basket Naut., a type of warning beacon (see quot. a 1865); Jack in the low cellar, a rendering of Du. Hans-in-kelder (see Hans), an unborn child; Jack in the water (see quot. 1873); Jack of (at) all trades, a man who can turn his hand to any kind (or to many kinds) of work or business; also rarely Jack of all work(s; Jack of (on, o') both sides, a person who sides first with one party and then with the other, a trimmer; † Jack of Dover, name of some dish, ‘probably a pie that had been cooked more than once’ (Skeat); Jack of straw, a figure of a man made of straw (cf. jackstraw 1); † Jack of the clock or clock-house (also Jackaclock, quot. 1689) = sense 6; also transf. applied to a person (see quots.); Jack of the dust, ‘a man on board a United States man-of-war appointed to assist the paymaster's yeoman in serving out provisions and other stores’ (Cent. Dict.); † Jack-o'-the-green (see quot.); † Jack out of doors, a person turned out of his former place; a homeless person, a vagrant; † Jack out of office, a person who has been dismissed from his office; one whose ‘occupation is gone’ (also rarely † Jack out of service); † Jack-o'-wisp, a will-o'-the-wisp; transf. a giddy or flighty person; Jack's alive, (a) Sc., a kind of game (see quot. 1825); transf. a lively run round (quot. 1894); (b) rhyming slang for ‘five’; also, a five-pound note; Jack the Painter, a kind of acrid green tea formerly used in the Australian bush; Jack the Ripper, popular name for a murderer of women in London in 1888, who mutilated the bodies of his victims; also used allusively. See also Jack-a-Lent, Jack-in-the-box, Jack-in-the-green, Jack-o'-lantern.
1785J. Trusler Mod. Times I. 160 The Mayor..was a pleasant man, and *Jack among the maids.
1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 130 When there was neede of my seruice..I was seldome or neuer wanting; I was *Iacke at a pinch. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack at a Pinch, a poor Hackney Parson. 1883F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers ii, Miss Coon..knows that the Major took her [to wife] ‘Jack at a pinch’—seein' he couldent get such as he wanted, he took such as he could get.
1625Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar ii. xvi. 217 As if..the man [were not] to bee made any more account of than *Iack hold my staffe, by these Rabbies. 1678A. Behn Sir Patient Fancy v, Madam, in plain English I am made a John A-Nokes of, Jack-hold-my-staff,..to give Leander time to marry your Daughter.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Jack in an Office, of one that behaves himself Imperiously in it. a1819Wolcott (P. Pindar) Advice Future Laureat ii, I hate a Jack-in-office martinet. 1836–9Dickens Sk. Boz xviii, A Jack-in-office, sir, and a very insolent fellow. 1887Besant The World went, etc. xiii, The clerks..gave this young officer..as much trouble as Jacks-in-office possibly can.
a1865Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. (1867) 407 *Jack in the basket, a sort of wooden cap or basket on the top of a pole, to mark a sand-bank or hidden danger. 1921Yachting Monthly Mar. 299/1 How comfortingly the cocoa boiled on an even keel at dawn with Jack-in-the-basket in sight! 1941Beaver Sept. 38/1 Jack-in-the-Basket. A beacon. The Moose River was well buoyed, and the many shoals were marked with high poles surmounted with long wicker baskets, or broom heads of willows.
1751Smollett Per. Pic. x, When his companions drank to the Hans en kelderr, or *Jack in the low cellar, he could not help displaying an extraordinary complacence of countenance.
1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz, Tales vii, *Jack-in-the-water. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 66 The lads, who act as jacks-in-the-water, were busy feeling in the mud for the fish that had fallen over board. 1873Slang Dict., Jack-in-the-water, an attendant at the watermen's stairs on the river and sea-port towns, who does not mind wetting his feet for a customer's convenience, in consideration of a douceur.
1618G. Mynshul Ess. Prison 24 Some broken Cittizen, who hath plaid *Iack of all trades. 1651Cleveland Poems 22 Thus Jack-of-all-trades hath devoutly showne The twelve Apostles on a Cherry-stone. 1687M. Clifford Notes Dryden i. 3 Your Writings are like a Jack of all Trades Shop, they have Variety, but nothing of value. 1770Gentl. Mag. XL. 61 Jack at all trades, is seldom good at any. 1813Scott Let. to Joanna Baillie 21 Mar. in Lockhart, Being a complete jack-of-all-trades, from the carpenter to the shepherd, nothing comes strange to him. 1820Sporting Mag. VI. 159 My Jack of all works, who, by the by, is a universal gallant. 1878S. Walpole Hist. Eng. I. 311 It would be unfair to say of Lord Brougham that he was ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’.
1562(title) A Godly and necessary Admonition concernyng Neutres, such as deserve the grosse name of *Iacke of both sydes. 1580G. Harvey in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) I. 40 Claw-backes and Pickethanks: Jackes of bothe sides. 1656Earl of Monmouth Advt. fr. Parnass. 338 That he hath won this universal good will by the vice of playing Jack of both sides. 1759Dilworth Pope 59 That he was a papist, a jack o' both sides. 1853Reade Chr. Johnstone xv, ‘Are you ready, gentlemen?’ said this Jack-o'-both-sides.
c1386Chaucer Cook's Prol. 23 Many a *Iakke of Douere hastow soold That hath been twies hoot and twies coold.
1621Fletcher Wildgoose Chase iii. i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 551/1, I..would be married sooner to a monkey, Or to a *Jack of Straw, than such a juggler.
1563Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 114 For mendinge the chymes..and *jake of the clockehouse. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 60 While I stand fooling heere, his iacke o' th' Clocke. 1661Cowley Verses & Ess., Cromwell (1669) 66 A Man, like that which we call Jack of the Clock-house, striking as it were, the hour of that fulness of time. 1689Diary in Topographer (1790) 32 A new bell made for the Jackaclock at Gosford Gate. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. ii. 150.
1878Detroit Free Press (Suppl.) 12 Jan. 2/4 Forward, on the gun-deck, the Paymaster's Steward, and his assistant, the *Jack of the Dust, were serving out small stores. 1882J. W. Danenhower Narr. ‘Jeannette’ ii. 41 He was doing duty at the time as paymaster's yeoman, or ‘Jack of the Dust’. 1931Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914– 18 (ed. 3) 322 Jacks alive, the number 5, especially at House. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 331 Jack's Alive, a five-pound note.
1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 577 Formerly a pleasant character dressed out with ribands and flowers, figured at village May-games under the name of *Jack-o'-the-Green..A Jack-o'-the-Green always carried a long walking stick with floral wreaths.
1603Florio Montaigne i. vi. (1632) 13 At his returne [he] found the Towne taken, and himself *jack-out-of-doores [sa place saisie]. 1616Withal's Dict. 569 Not altogether Iack out of doores, and yet no gentleman.
1553Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 159 Doth not this ceremony make Christ *Iacke out of office? 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 1031/1 They challenge such a power to them selues, that Iesus Christe is iacke out of office with them. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. i. 175 For me nothing remaines: But long I will not be Iack out of Office. 1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 65 We should be but so many Jacks out of Office.
1540Coverdale Confut. Standish (1547) I vj, Gods good worde must weere the papyre and be *iack out of seruyce from other men.
1896Catholic Mag. July 4 If she had been a *Jack-o'-wisp, in her young days..would Lady Mary have chosen her?
1825–80Jamieson, *Jack's alive, a kind of sport. A piece of [lighted] paper or match is handed round a circle, he who takes hold saying, ‘Jack's alive, he'se no die in my hand’. He, in whose hand it dies or is extinguished, forfeits a wad. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Years Life II. 8 He gave her [a mare] ‘Jack's alive’ round the field.
1852G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. x. 329 Another notorious ration tea of the bush is called ‘*Jack the Painter’. This is a very green tea indeed. 1878Australian I. 418 The billy wins, and ‘Jack the Painter’ tea Steams on the hob, from aught like fragrance free. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. iv. 83 Jack the painter..from the stain left round the drinker's mouth or in the billy (at least, that is the approved explanation).
1890Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Mar. 5/1 A *Jack the Ripper outrage at Moscow. 1902To-Day XXXV. 99/2 Now we know 'oo Jack the Ripper was! 1919C. P. Thompson Cocktails 17 If only the officer would let him have a whack at her over the open sights, he'd do the Jack-the-ripper act on her in half a tick. 1958Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago ii. ix. 268, I expected to see a bashi-bazook or a revolutionary Jack the Ripper, but he was neither. 1959‘H. Carmichael’ Stranglehold i. 13, I had to obtain a Home Office permit. And in case you still think I'm Jack the Ripper, here it is. 1972A. E. Lindop Journey into Stone (1973) ii. 21 There's a lousy fog... It's a Jack the Ripper's paradise.
38. In names of animals (sometimes signifying male, sometimes small, half-sized).
a. Denoting the male of certain animals, as jack-ape, Jack-hare; esp. of falcons, as jack-hobby, Jack-kestrel, Jack-merlin. See also jackass.
b. jack crow, a name for Picathartes gymnocephalus, a West African corvine bird; jack curlew, name for two small species of curlew: (a) the Whimbrel, Numenius phæopus; (b) the N. hudsonicus of North America; jack-fish, a name for the pike; also for Caranx pisquetos and other carangoid fishes (see 31); jack-in-a-bottle, a name for the long-tailed titmouse, also called bottle-tit, from the shape of its nest; Jack Russell (terrier), a small terrier named after John Russell (1795–1883), the so-called ‘sporting parson’; jack salmon U.S., a large freshwater fish, Stizostedion vitreum, also called walleyed pike; jack-saw, a name for the Goosander (Mergus merganser), ‘from its saw-like bill’ (Swainson Prov. Names Birds (1885) 163); jack-sharp, a northern dialect name for the stickleback; jack-spaniard, a large species of wasp found in the West Indies. See also jackdaw, jack-rabbit, jack-snipe.
1829Blackw. Mag. XXVI. 636 That extreme ‘facial development’, which imparts it seems to the countenance of several of her ladyship's friends, the character of *jack-apes.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 23 One of the chief features of Free Town are the *jack crows.
1866Montagu Dict. Birds s.v. Wimbrel, The Whimbrel has..in some parts..obtained the name of *Jack Curlew, from a supposition that it is the male of that bird. 1884Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 645 Numenius hudsonicus (Of Hudson's Bay), Hudsonian Curlew, Jack Curlew.
1847Lytton Lucretia 32 A worthy object..which might well detain you from roach and *Jack-fish.
1887J. Cummins Hints Anglers, If..Trout are well on the feed they will take the male or ‘*Jack’ flies readily.
1742Fielding J. Andrews iii. vi, Swearing it was the largest *jack-hare he ever saw.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 31 British Long-tailed Titmouse..*Jack in a bottle.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 712 Of Merlins there are both male and female, the male is called *Iack-merlin.
1907R. Leighton New Bk. Dog xxix. 317/1 In another decade or so the neglected Sealy Ham Terrier,..and the almost forgotten *Jack Russell strain, may have claimed a due recompense for their long neglect. Ibid. 318/1 ‘I have kept the Jack Russell type of terrier for nearly twenty years,’ says Mr. Reginald Bates, ‘and have used them for fox and badger digging.’ 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Aug. 620/4 Perhaps the most popular is the ‘Jack Russell’ which..may now be considered a breed. 1965B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Dog Owner's Encycl. 125 Jack Russell terrier. A small working terrier, named (for no very sound reason) after a West Country parson [sc. the Rev. John Russell of Devonshire] who, a century ago, was renowned for his working terriers. Any small Hunt terrier may be called a Jack Russell... There is no distinct type and the breed is not recognised by the Kennel Club. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog i. 13 A little tubby man..with..the look of an overfed Jack Russell terrier.
1871Game Laws (Pennsylvania) in Fur, Fin & Feather (1872) 122 The species commonly known as Susquehanna salmon, pike, perch, *jack salmon..shall henceforth not be taken..during their spawning time. 1920Outing (U.S.) May 118/2 We always hope..to catch a few jack salmon.
1811A. Clarke Jrnl. 12 June in Acct. Life A. Clarke (1833) II. 261, I went into the grounds where I had often sported, read, talked, searched for birds' nests, and caught *jack-sharps. 1876I. Banks Manchester Man I. v. 81 He mun larn to tak' care on himsel' th' next time he marlocks among th' Jack⁓sharps. 1901Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 8/1 A boy of ten was attempting to catch jacksharps when he fell from the embankment into the stream... (South-country readers will be interested to learn that jacksharps are the little fishes known to them as sticklebacks or tittlebats.) 1925J. T. Jenkins Fishes Brit. Isles 124 There are numerous local names for this fish [sc. the three-spined stickleback], such as Jack Sharp, Prickleback, [etc.]. 1974P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry vii. 63 The worker pursuing his weekend hobby of angling may find round a pond cockies or jacksharps, ‘sticklebacks’ to the uninitiated.
1833Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 21 Sept. 269/3 The *jack-spaniard may be called the wasp of the West Indies; it is twice as large as a British wasp. 1843Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (ed. 6) II. 80 The Jack-spaniard may be called the wasp of the West Indies, it is twice as large as a British wasp. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! II. ix. 253 Sitting on the sandy turf, defiant of galliwasps and jack-spaniards. 1867J. K. Lord At Home in Wilderness xviii. 299 A hornet, called by the packers a ‘Jack-Spaniard’,..builds a circular paper nest. 1938Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. LXXXVII. 181 Polistes Latreille. Four species of this genus were collected in Trinidad. P. canadensis (L.). Typical form. ‘Jack Spaniard’. Common throughout all settled areas. 1963D. M. Douglass Saba's Treasure i. 14 You could as well discover the particular jack-spaniard that stung you a week ago.
39. In popular names of plants. Sometimes with the sense ‘Dwarf, undersized’, as jack bush, Jack oak; jack-at-the-hedge, local name in Ireland for Goose-grass or Clivers (Britten & Holland, Appendix); jack bean, a sub-tropical, climbing, leguminous plant of the genus Canavalia, esp. C. ensiformis; jack-by-the-hedge (also † Jack-of-the-hedge, Jack-in-the-hedge), the Hedge-garlic, Sisymbrium Alliaria; also locally applied to Lychnis diurna, Tragopogon pratensis, and Linaria minor (Br. & Holl.); jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, Ornithogalum umbellatum and Tragopogon pratensis (the latter also called simply go-to-bed-at-noon); Jack-in-the-bush, (a) local name for Hedge-garlic; (b) = Jack-in-the-green 1; jack-in-the-hedge = Jack-by-the-hedge, the hedge-garlic, Alliaria petiolata; jack-in-the-pulpit (U.S.), a North American araceous plant, Arisæma triphyllum, so called from the appearance of the upright spadix partly surmounted by the inclosing spathe; jack-jump-about, local name for Angelica sylvestris, ægopodium Podagraria, and Lotus corniculatus (Br. & Holl.); jack oak, a North American species of oak (Quercus nigra); also called black jack; jack of the buttery, an old name for Stonecrop, Sedum acre; also called Creeping Jack; jack-pine, any of several species of pine, esp. the Banksian pine, Pinus banksiana. See also Jack-in-the-box 8, Jack-in-the-green 2.
1885‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. xv. 280 He sat upon the cabin porch beneath the yellow gourds an the purple blooms of the *Jack-bean. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) I. 382/1 Jack Bean. Chickasaw Lima Bean... The young beans (about 4 to 6 in. long) are sometimes used like Scarlet Runners; the ripe seeds are said to be used as a substitute for coffee.
1812J. Cutler Top. Descr. Ohio 96 The land in this distance is mostly clothed with *jack bushes and tall woods.
1536Turner Libellus A ij a, Alliaria,..*Iak of the hedge. 1578Lyte Dodoens 639 In Englishe Sauce alone, and Iacke by the hedge. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxv. 627 Jack by the Hedge, or Sauce Alone..was a favourite condiment. 1875Sussex Gloss., Jack-in-the-hedge, Lychnis diurna. 1925W. de la Mare Broomsticks 312 Young spring flowers—primroses, violets, jack-in-the-hedge, stitchwort—in palest blossom starred the banks. 1941A. L. Rowse Poems of Decade 111 The many and various scents of the flowers, Cuckoo-pint, cow-parsley and jack-in-the-hedge.
1853A. Pratt Wild Flowers II. 47 The leaves and stems are often the only portions of the plant [sc. Yellow Goat's Beard] to attract the eye of the wanderer, for the flower is closed by mid-day. Several of its country names refer to this peculiarity, as Noontide, and *Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. 1931M. Grieve Mod. Herbal I. 360/1 The Goat's Beard opens its blossoms at daybreak and closes them before noon, except in cloudy weather, hence its old country name of ‘Noon-flower’ and ‘Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon’. 1951W. de la Mare Winged Chariot 9 How punctual they!.. As testifies ‘Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon’.
1807R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. xiii. 146 A more extra⁓ordinary figure is sometimes in company, whom they call *Jack-in-the-Bush; as the name indicates, nothing but bush is to be seen, except the feet which dance under it. The man stands in a frame-work which is supported upon his shoulders, and is completely covered with the boughs of a thick and short-branched shrub. 1872F. Kilvert Diary 10 May (1939) II. 196 He [sc. the sawyer] said wild garlic, called Jack-in-the-Bush, is a famous pot herb.
1837H. Martineau Society in Amer. I. ii. 211 Fine specimens of *Jack-in-the pulpit, and the moccassin-flower. 1884M. E. Wilkins in Harper's Mag. Oct. 788/2 It would have been like looking at a jack-in-the-pulpit. 1894Gibson Ibid. Mar. 565 Our well-known jack-in-the-pulpit, or Indian-turnip, with its purple-streaked canopy and sleek ‘preacher’ standing erect beneath it. 1906N.Y. Even. Post (Suppl.) 16 June 2 In these woods I made acquaintance with Jack-in-the-pulpits, or, as the English call them, ‘Lords and Ladies’. 1949Nature Mag. Apr. 178 A few of these, like Indian turnip or jack-in-the-pulpit, cowslip and milkweed, may be considered mildly inedible. 1972T. McHugh Time of Buffalo viii. 91 Soups were popular, some brewed with..buffalo meat, berries, fat, and the roots of jack-in-the-pulpits.
1816U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1915) X. 266 *Jack Oaks and other Scrub Wood. 1821J. Fowler Jrnl. (1898) 15 The timber in the bottoms..is a kind of Jack oak and very low Cotton Wood. 1836D. B. Edward Hist. Texas iv. 68 The post-oak and Jack-oak are considered in Texas as every man's property. 1901Duncan & Scott Hist. Allen & Woodson Counties, Kansas 581 The ‘jack oak hills’ have been fenced.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxlv. (1633) 518 Stone crop,..Wall pepper, Countrey pepper, and *Jacke of the Butteries.
1883G. O. Shields Rustlings in Rockies xxxi. 285 This [country] is now grown up with scattering dwarf pines or, as the settlers call them, *jack-pines. 1925Chambers's Jrnl. June 381/2 The jack-pine grows low and twisted. 1957J. Kerouac On Road (1968) ii. ix. 55, I..looked up and saw jackpines in the moon. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai xii. 210, I saw, moving majestically towards me and looming over the head of the crowd like a Douglas fir among jackpine, a prematurely grey giant about nine feet tall. 1969T. H. Everett Living Trees of World 51/1 The range of the jack pine (P. banksiana), the most northern of eastern American pines, extends south from near the Arctic Circle to New York and Minnesota.
Add:[V.] [37.] Jack the Lad [perh. associated with the nautical theme of Jack's the Lad, instanced in a number of songs from the mid-19th cent. onwards: see quot. c 1840], colloq., a conspicuously self-assured, carefree, and often brash young man; a ‘chancer’.
[c1840(song-title) Jack's the lad. Ibid. (refrain) For if ever fellow took delight in swigging, gigging, kissing, drinking, fighting, Damme I'll be bold to say that Jack's the lad.] 1981New Society 4 June 383/3, I was always *Jack the Lad—the one everyone liked but nobody wanted to know. 1986J. Wainwright Portrait in Shadows viii. 61 Find somebody..who..just might be Jack the Lad. 1991Interview Sept. 50/1 The East End urchin Tony, later a Jack-the-lad and Jack-of-all-trades.
▪ II. † Jack, n.5 Obs.
Colloq. abbrev. of Jacobite.
1695B. Blaire in Sir. R. Blackmore Hist. Conspir. (1723) 180 Men of the greatest Acquaintance and Influence amongst the Jacks. a1700D'Urfey Pills (1719) I. 355 The Jacks are fierce, and Williamites are flesh'd. 1708S. Centlivre Busie Body i. i, We are all thought to be Politicians, or Whigs, or Jacks, or High-Flyers, or Low-Flyers, or Levellers. 1732Gentl. Mag. II. 770 A Jack t'other Day in a Coffee-House prating, For Freedom as strongly as D'Anvers, debating.
▪ III. Jack, n.11 orig. U.S.
Brit. |dʒak|, U.S. |dʒæk|
Forms: also with lower-case initial.
[‹ the name of David Jacks (see Monterey Jack n. at Monterey n. 5b).]
= Monterey Jack n. at Monterey n. 5b. Also more fully Jack cheese.
1912Washington Post 14 Jan. m4 ‘Jack’ is a second native American cheese. It was first made in Monterey County, California, about a quarter of a century ago, and was then called ‘Monterey’ cheese. 1949M. H. Lapham Crisscross Trails iii. 32 With his sons he [sc. David Jacks] is credited with having developed a popular type of soft cheese now widely sold in the city markets as Monterey or Jack cheese. 1979Mountain Democrat & Placerville (Calif.) Times 17 Oct. c5 (advt.) Pepper Jack... Olympic Brand. Random Weight Chunks... 20¢. 1995Ottawa Citizen 18 Jan. f1 Serve this tasty blend with tortilla chips, shredded Jack cheese and sour cream. 2003M. Riccetti Houston Dining on the Cheap 35 The sandwich is finished with jalapeño jack cheese and slices of pickles. |