jackanapes
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒækəˌneɪps/
Forms: form: jackanapeses
form: jackanape
form: jack-a-napes
Etymology: From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”), probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, monkey”) + -s (possibly modelled after surnames such as Hobbes and Jakkes), referring to Suffolk’s heraldic badge which was an ape’s chain and clog (“weight such as a block of wood or log attached to an animal to hinder motion”) (see the image, right). It is uncertain whether the word was first coined as a nickname for Suffolk (the earliest known uses), or to refer to an ape or an ape-like person. If the word was originally a nickname, some early uses of sense 2.1 (“person thought to behave like an ape or monkey”) may allude to Suffolk who was widely regarded as an upstart, having risen from the merchant class.
In later uses, the middle element of the word was often treated as the indefinite article a or an, that is, as if the word meant “Jack, an ape”.
Senses: examples: text: To iettynge, to iaggynge, and to full of iapes; / To mockynge, to mowynge, to lye a iackenapes: […]
ref: a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude and a Mery, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 294, lines 2124–2125:
text: He grynnes and he gapis, / As it were iack napis.
ref: a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume II, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 47, lines 650–651:
text: Can Iack an Ape be merry vvhen his clog is at his heele.
ref: 1637, William Camden; Iohn [i.e., John] Philipot, “Certaine Proverbs, Poemes, or Posies, Epigrams, Rythmes, and Epitaphs of the English Nation in Former Times, and Some of this Present Age. [Proverbs.]”, in Remaines Concerning Britaine: […], 5th edition, London: […] Thomas Harper, for John Waterson, […], →OCLC, page 294:
text: A fair sight we are; and had I but a rebeck or guitar at my back, and a jackanapes on my shoulder, we should seem as joyous a brace of strollers as ever touched string at a castle gate.
ref: 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 321:
text: […] I could see him climbing like a jackanapes, for that part was again very steep; […]
ref: 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Death of the Red Fox”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 163:
glosses: (A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.
examples: text: I [Aye], quoth Jack a napes, by these ten bones, / Nothing happens amiss to a præparid minde, / Tis good philosophy, katt will to kinde.
ref: 1573 September (date written), Gabriel Harvey, “The Schollars Loove, or Reconcilement of Contraryes. The Very First Inglish Meeter that Ever I Made.”, in Edward John Long Scott, editor, Letter-book of Gabriel Harvey, A.D. 1573–1580. […] (Camden Society Publications, New Series; 33), [London]: […] [Nichols and Sons] for the Camden Society, published 1884, →OCLC, page 120:
text: VVas there euer man had ſuch lucke? vvhen I kiſt the Iacke vpon an vp-caſt, to be hit avvay? I had a hundred pound on't: and then a vvhoreſon Iacke-an-apes muſt take me vp for ſvvearing, as if I borrovved mine oathes of him, and might not ſpend them at my pleaſure.
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], pages 375–376:
text: Now, she hath favoured, doth favour, and will favour, this jack-an-ape,—for what good part about him I know not, save that as one noble lady will love a messan dog, and another a screaming popinjay, and a third a Barbary ape, so doth it please our noble dame to set her affections upon this stray elf of a page, […]
ref: 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 89:
text: I beg to say, that I use those last expressions advisedly, sir, and not in the sense in which they are now used by Jackanapeses. There were no Jackanapeses when I was a boy, Mr. Hood. England was Old England when I was young.
ref: 1844 May, Charles Dickens, “Threatening Letter to Thomas Hood, from an Ancient Gentleman”, in B. W. Matz, editor, Miscellaneous Papers […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1908, →OCLC, page 7:
text: [W]hat right has any free, reasonable soul on earth, to sell himself for a shilling a-day to murder any man, right or wrong— […] just because such a whiskered, profligate jackanapes as that officer, […] is set to command grey-headed men before he can command his own meanest passions.
ref: 1850, [Charles Kingsley], “Tailors and Soldiers”, in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 61:
text: Then I set the boy down as a conceited young jackanapes, which no doubt he was,—but so are a great many other young people of Ernest's age.
ref: 1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, chapter XXXVI, in R[ichard] A[lexander] Streatfeild, editor, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC, page 158:
text: […] I'd soon make you laugh the other side of your mouth, you guffawing jackanapes.
ref: 1894, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “The Pride of Life”, in Perlycross: A Tale of the Western Hills, London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Company […], →OCLC, page 425:
text: The boy wouldn't dare. (Rising choler.) Wouldn't dare to refuse the only sensible girl for miles around. That stubborn jackanapes refuse to marry a girl like you!
ref: 1904 (first performance), Joseph Conrad, “One Day More: A Play in One Act”, in Austin Harrison, editor, The English Review, volume XV, London: […] Richard Clay and Sons, published August–November 1913, →OCLC, scene ii, page 21:
text: Who were the aristocracy, to give themselves airs? Jackanapes!
ref: 1926 August, John Galsworthy, “Soames Keeps His Eyes Open”, in The Silver Spoon, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part I, page 46:
text: By his extreme youth, he can only be a prancing jackanapes, and so I name him.
ref: 1996 August 1, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Sansa”, in A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire; 1), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: brazenface
word: cheeky chappie
word: cheeky chops
word: cheeky monkey
word: jackanapes
word: malapert
word: minx
word: saucebox
word: agitator
word: bad boy
word: bad news
word: bear
word: bhoy
word: blackguard
word: booger
word: boot boy
word: bovver boy
word: brat
word: brawler
word: breedbate
word: buffoon
word: bugger
word: bully
word: charva
word: cutup
word: devil
word: elf
word: enfant terrible
word: firebrand
word: gadfly
word: hell-raiser
word: hood
word: hoodlum
word: hool
word: hoolie
word: hooligan
word: hothead
word: imp
word: inciter
word: initiator
word: instigator
word: jackanapes
word: joker
word: jokester
word: kindle-coal
word: kindle-fire
word: knave
word: lout
word: makebate
word: minx
word: mischief
word: mischief-maker
word: miscreant
word: ne'er-do-well
word: pixie
word: pot stirrer
word: practical joker
word: prankster
word: puck
word: rabble rouser
word: rakeshame
word: rantipole
word: rapscallion
word: rascal
word: rogue
word: roly-poly
word: rowdy
word: ruffian
word: scamp
word: scapegrace
word: scoundrel
word: shit disturber
word: shitmonger
word: shit-stirrer
word: tearaway
word: thug
word: titivil
word: tough
word: troublemaker
word: undesirable
word: vandal
word: wag
word: wagpastie
word: wrangler
word: yob
word: yobbo
coordinate_terms: Jane-of-apes
glosses: (A proper name for) a person thought to behave like an ape or monkey, for example, in being impudent, mischievous, vain, etc.; specifically (chiefly humorous), an impudent or mischievous child.
examples: text: I wyl rather haue these knees pared of, then I wil kneele to yonder iacknapes (meaning the rode) God healpe me I am borne to trouble and aduersity in this world.
ref: 1562 May 5 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Ihon [i.e., John] Bullingham, quoting Julins Palmer, “The History and Martirdom of a Learned and Vertuous Yong Man Called Iulines Palmer”, in John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], published 30 March 1563 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, book V, page [1610]:
topics: Christianity
glosses: A crucifix.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine.
Derived terms: word: jackanapery
word: jackanapes coat
word: jackanapish
word: Jane-of-apes
word: Johnanapes
Related terms: jackaninny