See Also: Jack Line, Jack Stay - Sailing(gambling)
Jack the Lad(dictionary)
Jack(1)(dictionary)
jack(3)(dictionary)
Jack-in-the-box(dictionary)
jack(4)(dictionary)
jack(5)(dictionary)
jack-up(dictionary)
new jack(dictionary)
jack(encyclopedia)

Jack(2) (iou)



Jack noun1. Also jack. Pl. -s, (in sense 22, also) same. LME.
[Pet-form of male forename John, perh. through dim. Jankin; the resemblance to French Jacques (from Proto-Romance from Latin Jacobus JACOB) is unexpl.]
I. (A figure of) a man.
a. (A name for) a (male) representative of the common people, (a name for) an ordinary man. LME.
J. Wainwright He had that world-weary look of the working Jack who'd seen everything.
b. A lad, a chap; esp. an ill-mannered man, a knave. obsolete exc. dial. M16.
c. Used as a form of address to an unknown person. colloq. (orig. US). L19.
A figure of a man which strikes the bell on the outside of a clock. Also Jack of the clock. Cf. branch II below. L15.
quarter-Jack.
a. A sailor. Now more fully Jack tar. M17.
b. A serving-man; a labourer; an odd-job man. E18.
c. A lumberjack. N. Amer. colloq. L19.
d. A (military) policeman; a detective. Cf. JOHN 3. slang. L19.
Cards. Orig., the knave of trumps in the game of all fours. Later (formerly considered slang), any of the lowest court-cards bearing the representation of a male youth, a knave. L17.
Field His partner had an equally important cardthe Jack of diamonds.
II. A thing which saves human labour; a device, a tool.
A machine for turning the spit when roasting meat, either wound up like a clock or operated by the current of heated air up a chimney. Also roasting-Jack. LME.
Any of various contrivances consisting (solely or essentially) of a roller or winch. LME.
A frame on which to saw wood. L16.
A part of the mechanism in a spinet, harpsichord, etc., connecting a key to its corresponding string, and causing the string to be plucked when the key is pressed down; a key of a spinet etc. L16.
A bootjack. Now rare or obsolete. L17.
A device, usually portable, for lifting or moving heavy objects by a force acting from below; spec. one placed under a vehicle to raise it off the ground so that a wheel can be changed or the underneath examined. E18.
Rally Sport They then had to change two punctures, during which the car fell off the Jack.
a. An oscillating lever, such as those in a stocking-frame or knitting-machine. M18.
b. = HECK noun1 6. M19.
a. Hist. A counter made to resemble a sovereign. M19.
b. Money. slang (orig. US). L19.
J. Dos Passos I thought I better come up here and see the folks before I spent all my Jack.
c. sing. & (occas.) in pl. Five pounds; a five-pound note. Also Jack's alive. slang. M20.
Electricity. More fully Jack-socket. A socket with two or more pairs of terminals, for the rapid introduction of a device into a circuit by means of a suitable plug. L19.
III. A thing of smaller than normal size.
A very small amount; the least bit; a whit. Only in M16.
a. Bowls. A smaller bowl placed as a mark for the players to aim at. Also (now rare) Jack-bowl. E17.
b. In pl. & (occas.) sing., a game played by tossing and catching small round pebbles or star-shaped pieces of metal; sing. a pebble or piece of metal used for this. Also more fully jackstone(s). Cf. DIBS noun1. E19.
Building. A small brick used as a closer at the end of a course. Long rare or obsolete. E18.
A quarter of a pint; an imperial gill. dial. M18.
Nautical. Either of a pair of iron bars at the head of the topgallant mast, supporting the royal and sky-sail masts. Also Jack cross-tree. M19.
A portable cresset or fire-basket used in hunting or fishing at night. US. M19.
A small schooner-rigged vessel used in the Newfoundland fisheries. Also Jack boat. M19.
A tablet of heroin. slang. M20.
IV. In names of animals.
a. Orig., a pike, Esox lucius, esp. when young or small. Now also, any of various similar fishes, as the pike-perch. Also Jack-fish. L16.
b. Any of numerous marine fishes of the family Carangidae, many of which are used as food. Also Jack-fish. Cf. SCAD noun2. Orig. W. Indies. L17.
The male of various animals; spec. (a) a male hawk, esp. a male merlin (in full Jack-merlin; (b) US a male ass, esp. one kept for breeding mules (= JACKASS 1). E17.
a. = jacksnipe below. L19.
b. A laughing jackass, a kookaburra. Cf. JACKO, JACKY 4. Austral. L19.
c. = JACKRABBIT. L19.
Phrases & comb.: a roll Jack Rice couldn't jump over: see ROLL noun1. before one can say Jack Robinson very quickly or suddenly. California Jack a card-game resembling all fours. Cousin Jack: see COUSIN noun. every man Jack colloq. each and every person. goggle-eye Jack: see GOGGLE-EYE 2(b). I'm all right, Jack colloq.: expr. selfish complacency. Jack-a-Lent arch. (a) rare a character in a mummers' play; (b) a figure of a man, set up to be pelted, in a game played during Lent; (c) a contemptible or insignificant person or thing; (d) a puppet. Jack and Jill boy and girl, man and woman. jack arch a small arch only one brick in thickness, esp. as used in numbers to support a floor. Jack ashore noun & adjective phr. (slang) (the condition or state of being) excited, elated, etc. Jack bean a subtropical climbing leguminous plant of the genus Canavalia, esp. C. ensiformis. Jack-block Nautical a large wooden block used to raise and lower a topgallant mast. Jack boat: see sense 20 above. Jack-bowl: see sense 15a above. Jack-boy a boy employed in menial work; spec. a stable-boy, a groom, a postillion. Jack-by-the-hedge garlic-mustard, Alliaria petiolata. Jack cross-tree: see sense 18 above. Jack curlew a whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus. Jack-fish: see sense 22 above. Jack-fishing (a) fishing for jack; (b) US fishing at night by means of a jack or cresset. Jack Frost: see FROST noun. Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon the yellow goat's-beard, Tragopogon pratensis, whose flowers close about midday. jackhammer a portable rock-drill worked by compressed air. Jack-hunting US hunting by means of a jack-light. Jack-in-a-bottle dial. a long-tailed tit (from the shape of its nest). Jack-in-office a self-important minor official. Jack in the basket Nautical a kind of warning beacon. Jack-in-the-bush (a) local = GARLIC-mustard; (b) = Jack-in-the-green (a) below. Jack-in-the-green (a) a man or boy enclosed in a pyramid of wood or wicker and leaves as part of May-Day celebrations; (b) a variety of the primrose in which the calyx is transformed into leaves. Jack-in-the-hedge = jack-by-the-hedge above. Jack-in-the-pulpit any of various plants of the arum family with an erect spadix overarched by the enfolding spathe, esp. (a) dial. cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum; (b) N. Amer. any of several woodland plants of the genus Arisaema. Jack-jump-about dial. any of several spreading plants, esp. ground elder, Aegopodium podagraria. Jack Ketch [an executioner, 1663-86] Hist. an executioner, a hangman. Jack-ladder Nautical (a) = JACOB'S LADDER 2; (b) = JACK-CHAIN 2. Jack-light US a light carried in a jack or cresset for hunting or fishing at night. Jack mackerel a carangid game-fish, Trachurus symmetricus, of the eastern Pacific. Jack-merlin: see sense 23(a) above. Jack Mormon US (a) a non-Mormon on friendly terms with Mormons; (b) a nominal or backsliding Mormon. Jack Napes: see JACKANAPES. Jack oak = black jack, blackjack (d) s.v. BLACK adjective. Jack of all trades a person who can do many different kinds of work. Jack of both sides (now rare) a person who shifts his or her support. Jack of the clock: see sense 2 above. Jack out of office a person who has been dismissed from office, or whose official role has gone. Jack-pin Nautical a belaying-pin. Jack-pine a small N. American pine, Pinus banksiana, with short needles. Jack plane a long heavy plane used for rough work. Jack plug Electricity: for use with a jack(-socket). Jack-pudding a buffoon, a clown. Jack-roll noun & verb (a) noun a winch or windlass turned directly by handles; (b) verb trans. steal from (a drunken person). Jack's alive: see sense 12c above. Jack salmon US the pike-perch, Stizostedion vitreum. Jack-sauce a saucy or impudent fellow. Jack-screw a jack (see sense 10 above) having a rack and a pinion wheel or screw and a handle turned by hand, used esp. to move heavy cargo in a ship's hold. Jack shaft Engineering any of various kinds of auxiliary or intermediate shaft driven by another shaft or by a set of gears. Jack-sharp north. a stickleback. jacksmith a maker of roasting-jacks. jacksnipe a small dark snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus; any of various similar birds, esp. (US) the pectoral sandpiper. Jack-socket: see sense 13 above. Jack-spaniard a large Caribbean wasp of the genus Polistes. jackstay Nautical (a) a rope, metal bar, or batten placed along a yard to bend the head of a square sail to; (b) a line secured at both ends to serve as a support for an awning etc. jackstone: see sense 15b above. Jack tar: see sense 3a above. Jack-the-Lad [nickname of Jack Sheppard, an 18th-cent. thief] (a) a young troublemaker; (b) a working-class hero; (c) a wanted criminal. Jack the Ripper: see RIPPER 1b. Jack-towel a roller towel. Jack-weight: forming part of the mechanism in an early form of the roasting-jack. lazy-Jack: see LAZY adjective. on one's Jack (Jones) slang alone. play the Jack play the knave, do a mean trick. THREE-cornered Jack. yellow Jack: see YELLOW adjective. See also JACK-A-DANDY, JACK-O'-LANTERN, JACKRABBIT, etc.