jack of all trades
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔːl ˈtɹeɪdz/
ipa: /ˌd͡ʒæk‿əv‿ɔl ˈtɹeɪdz/
ipa: /-ɑl-/
rhymes: -eɪdz
Forms: form: jacks of all trades
form: Jack-at-all-trades
form: Jack of all trades
form: Jack of all Trades
form: jack-of-all-trades
form: Jack-of-all-trades
Etymology: From jack (“typical man, fellow”) + of + all + trades.
Senses: examples: text: Novv for the moſt part your Porter is either ſome broken Cittizen, vvho hath plaid Iack of all trades, ſome Pander, Broker, or Hangman, that hath plaid the knaue vvith all men, and for the more certainty his Embleme is a red Beard, to vvhich Sacke hath made his Noſe couſin German.
ref: 1618, G[effray] M[ynshul], “Of Entertainment in Prison”, in Essayes and Characters of a Prison and Prisoners, London: […] [George Eld] for Mathew Walbancke, […], →OCLC, pages 23–24:
text: Printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, statesman, humorist, philosopher, parlor man, political economist, professor of housewifery, ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, herb-doctor, wit:—Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of his land.
ref: 1854 July – 1855 March, Herman Melville, “Which has Something to Say about Dr. Franklin and the Latin Quarter”, in Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam & Co., […], published May 1855, →OCLC, page 81:
text: "I am my own engineer, and my own carpenter, and my own plumber, and my own gardener, and my own Jack of all Trades," said Wemmick, in acknowledging my compliments.
ref: 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 98:
text: A fellow can always get some sort of a job—I was coming up here to see if they needed an extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, or anything that meant a roof and something to eat—but I suppose they don't need a jack-of-all-trades.
ref: 1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “Wanted—an Owner”, in Where There’s a Will, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 52–53:
text: In 1823, when this drawing was made, there was anesthesia for dentistry and in fact very little dentistry except the extraction of teeth. Much of this extraction was conducted by itinerant quacks or jacks-of-all-trades who did it as a side line to their business.
ref: 1929, Howard W[ilcox] Haggard, “‘In Sorrow Thou shalt Bring forth Children’”, in Devils, Drugs, and Doctors: The Story of the Science of Healing from Medicine-man to Doctor, New York, N.Y.; Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, →OCLC, part 2 (The Story of Anesthesia), image caption, page 100:
synonyms: all-rounder
factotum
generalist
jack of all trades, master of none
sciolist
antonyms: jackass of all trades
coordinate_terms: jill of all trades
Jill of all trades, mistress of none
glosses: One competent in many endeavours, sometimes regarded as not excelling in any of them.
Derived terms: english: attested later
translation: attested later
word: jack of all trades, master of none
Related terms: man of many parts
polymath
Renaissance man
spread oneself thin
wear too many hats