jack
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: jăk
ipa: /d͡ʒæk/
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: jacks
Etymology: Transferred use of the personal name Jack.
(cricket: eleventh batsman): An allusion to the jack in playing cards, which follows the 10.
Senses: examples: text: After Dinner they frisk away to some known Place of Rendezvous, where (at Night) every Jack has his Jill and every Jill has her Jack.
ref: 1723, The New-England Courant, volume 80:
glosses: A man.
A name applied to a hypothetical or typical man.
examples: text: Call you me daughter? now I promiſe you / You haue ſhewd a tender fatherly regard, / To wiſh me wed to one halfe Lunaticke, / A mad-cap ruffian, and a ſwearing Iacke, / That thinkes with oathes to face the matter out.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 217, column 1:
glosses: A man.
A man, a fellow; a typical man; men in general.
glosses: A man.
A sailor.
examples: text: When Wardell arrived on the scene, they were surprised to find that he was unshaven, and did not look too happy. One of them remarked: "The 'Jacks' (detectives) are after you."
ref: 1935, Bernard O'Donnell, The trials of Mr. Justice Avory, page 219:
text: 'I'd like you to meet DCI Henry Christie,' FB was saying. The older of the two jacks reached forward and gave Henry's right paw a quick tug.
ref: 2013, Nick Oldham, Big City Jacks:
glosses: A man.
A policeman or detective; (Australia) a military policeman.
synonyms: word: jake
word: 5-O
word: alphabet
word: barney
word: beatsman
word: bizzie
word: bluebottle
word: bluecoat
word: blue heeler
word: blue meanie
word: bobby
word: body snatcher
word: bogey
word: boy in blue
word: bull
word: bullyman
word: buttons
word: centenier
word: charpering omi
word: chazzer
word: cobbler
word: cop
word: copper
word: cozzer
word: cracker
word: crusher
word: crowns
word: dibble
word: fed
word: filth
word: finest
word: finger
word: five-o
word: flatfoot
word: flatty
word: fuzz
word: garda
word: gendarme
word: glowie
word: guardian of the peace
word: harman
word: harman-beck
word: jack
word: jackboot
word: jake
word: John Law
word: John Q. Law
word: Johnny Hopper
word: lawman
word: mee-maw
word: monarch
word: Mr Plod
word: mutton shunter
word: nuthook
word: oinker
word: Officer Friendly
word: Old Bill
word: PC Plod
word: pig
word: piggy
word: peeler
word: plod
word: police
word: police officer
word: policeman
word: policeperson
word: polis
word: po-po
word: raw lobster
word: roller
word: rozzer
word: scufter
word: slop
word: swine
word: statie
word: twelve
word: tyre biter
word: unboiled lobster
word: walloper
word: wooden-top
glosses: A man.
A manual laborer.
glosses: A man.
A lumberjack.
examples: text: I hope to God his theories will not unman him in action, that he will not be musing and refining when he should be leading the Jacks […]
ref: 1855, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield: Or, Fellowship in the East, page 280:
glosses: A man.
A sepoy.
examples: text: Our hero, among his other remarks, had obſerved, that in this place there was no ſuch utenſil as a jack, and that all the ſpits were turned by dogs, […]
ref: 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “They distress the housekeepers of Bath, by another mischievous contrivance. […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume II, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 300:
glosses: A device or utensil.
A device for turning a spit; a smokejack or roasting jack.
examples: text: Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap / To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, / Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, / At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
ref: 1609, Shakespeare, “Sonnet 128”, in Edward Bliss Reed, editor, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Yale University Press, published 1923, lines 1–14:
text: [W]hat the devil makes you so dull, Letitia? I thought to have found you popping about as brisk as the jacks of your harpsichord.
ref: 1780, Hannah Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem, I.4:
text: In the virginal, an upright piece of wood fixed to the key-lever and fitted with a quill which plucked the string as the jack rose when the key was pressed down. Here used as "key."
ref: 1923, Charles Talbut Onions, “Notes”, in Edward Bliss Reed, editor, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Yale University Press, Note 128.5:
glosses: A device or utensil.
Each of a series of blocks in a harpsichord or the earlier virginal, communicating the action of the key to the quill; sometime also, a hopper in a modern piano.
topics: arts
crafts
glassblowing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A device or utensil.
a tool used in manual production of glass objects (like bottles or wine glasses).
glosses: A device or utensil.
A support for wood being sawn; a sawhorse or sawbuck.
glosses: A device or utensil.
A device used to hold a boot by the heel, to assist in removing the boot.
examples: text: She used a jack to lift her car and changed the tire.
glosses: A device or utensil.
A mechanical device used to raise and (temporarily) support a heavy object, now especially to lift one side of a motor vehicle when (e.g.) changing a tyre.
glosses: A device or utensil.
Any of various levers for raising or lowering the sinkers which push the loops down on the needles in a knitting machine or stocking frame.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A device or utensil.
A wedge for separating rocks rent by blasting.
glosses: A device or utensil.
A grating device used to separate and guide the threads in a warping machine; a heck-box.
glosses: A device or utensil.
A machine for twisting the sliver as it leaves a carding machine, in the preparation of yarn.
examples: text: telephone jack
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A device or utensil.
A switch for a jack plug, a jackknife switch; (more generally) a socket used to connect a device to a circuit, network etc.
antonyms: plug
examples: text: Dead VVine that ſtinks of the Borrachio, ſup / From a fovvl Jack, or greaſie Maple Cup?
ref: 1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 69, lines 216–217:
text: He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf—our crug—moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.
ref: 1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A pitcher or other vessel for holding liquid, especially alcoholic drink; a black-jack.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
The lowest court card in a deck of standard playing cards, ranking between the 10 and queen, with an image of a knave or pageboy on it.
related: word: mul:J
synonyms: knave
hypernyms: court card
face card
<
playing card
<
card#Noun
coordinate_terms: king
queen
examples: text: like an uninstructed bowler, so to speak, who thinks to attain the jack, by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A small, typically white, ball used as the target ball in bowls; a jack-ball.
synonyms: kitty
qualifier: bowls
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A small ship's flag used as a signal or identifying device; a small flag flown at the bow of the vessel.
examples: text: To a pound of sugar put a jack of water.
ref: 1747, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A measure of liquid corresponding to a quarter of a pint.
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A fake coin designed to look like a sovereign.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A jackcrosstree.
topics: games
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A small, six-pointed playing piece used in the game of jacks.
examples: text: a heron when seeing a deer attracted by the jack
ref: 1930, Tappan Gregory, Deer at Night in the North Woods:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A torch or other light used in hunting to attract or dazzle game at night.
examples: text: First off Regan carried fifteen grand, packed it in his clothes all the time. Real money, they tell me. Not just a top card and a bunch of hay. That's a lot of jack (or jack-shit) […].
ref: 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 133:
text: Angels come from everywhere with lots of jack, and when you lose it, there's no attack. Where could you get money that you don't give back? Let's go on with the show
ref: 1946, Irving Berlin, “There's No Business Like Show Business”:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
Money, cash.
examples: text: [A] quart of raisin jack was divided between us with the result that tha day proper (after the night before) was spent very quietly, watered and Bromo-Seltzered, with amusing anecdotes occasionally sprouting from towelled head to towelled head.
ref: 1920, Hart Crane, letter, 14 April
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A strong alcoholic liquor, especially home-distilled or illicit.
examples: text: You haven't done jack. Get up and get this room cleaned up right now!
text: Sergeant Albrecht: Hey, c'mon, read the file! Shelly Webster, held on for 30 hours in intensive care and, her body finally just gave up. I saw it man, I couldn't do jack for her.
ref: 1994, The Crow, spoken by Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), Miramax:
text: She didn't know what he was doing on the Darvish farm, or how long he'd been there, or how long he planned to stay. She didn't even know if it was his plane. In other words, jack, Mira thought, in a spike of furious resentment against herself.
ref: 2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 72:
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
Nothing, not anything, jack shit.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
The eleventh batsman to come to the crease in an innings.
glosses: A non-tool object or thing.
A smooth often ovoid large gravel or small cobble in a natural water course.
qualifier: Appalachians
glosses: A plant or animal.
A pike, especially when young.
glosses: A plant or animal.
A male ass, especially when kept for breeding.
synonyms: jackass
glosses: A plant or animal.
Any of the marine fish in the family Carangidae.
synonyms: jack mackerel
examples: text: Cottontails were taken along the creeks, under the willows. Their flesh was preferable to that of the jacks[…]"
ref: 1932, Isabel T. Kelly, “Ethnography of the Surprise Valley Paiute”, in University of California Publications in California Archaeology an Ethnography, volume 31, number 3, page 88:
glosses: A plant or animal.
A jackrabbit.
glosses: A plant or animal.
A large California rockfish, the bocaccio, Sebastes paucispinis.
glosses: A plant or animal.
Mangifera caesia, related to the mango tree.
examples: text: Usually a jack that makes male flowers has only one main leaf (right), while female plants have two. […] The specific taxonomy of Jack-in-the Pulpit, a member of the Arum Family (Araceae), is rather up in the air. Some botanists believe all jacks are just one species, Arisaema triphyllum, while others claim there are as many as three: A. triphyllum, A. atrorubens, and A. stewardsonii.
ref: 2003 May 1, “Is that “Jack” in the Pulpit”, in Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History:
text: In fact, most male Jacks are under 14 inches tall. Most Jacks over 14 inches tend to be Jills.
ref: 2013 January 6, “Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Jill”, in Eat the Weeds:
glosses: A plant or animal.
Plant in the genus Arisaema, also known as Jack-in-the-pulpit, and capitalized Jack.
examples: text: Lifting the flap at the top of the spathe reveals our slender and round-headed friend "Jack," known better to botanists as the spadix.
ref: 2003 May 1, “Is that “Jack” in the Pulpit”, in Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History:
text: On every kid’s list of favourite plants is our quirky Jack-in-the-pulpit with its green, red or purple spadices (the Jacks) and hooded green-, red- or almost black-striped spathes (the pulpits).
ref: 2017 May 24, Stephen Westcott-Gratton, “Purple pulpits and trilliums”, in Gardenmaking:
glosses: A plant or animal.
Spadix of a plant (also capitalized Jack).
glosses: A plant or animal.
Plant of the genus Emex, also considered synonymous to Rumex, if not then containing two species lesser jack and little jack for Emex spinosa syn. Rumex spinosus, Australian English three-corner jack and prickly jack for Emex australis syn. Rumex hypogaeus.
qualifier: apparently does not occur standalone for the genus per se
Derived terms: African jack
amberjack
back to back jack
ballin' the jack
bicolor jack
blackfin jack
blackjack
black jack
blue jack
bootjack
boot jack
bottle jack
bumper jack
cable jack
calving jack
cargo jack
car-jack
car jack
cheap-jack
clock jack
cottonmouth jack
crack-a-jack
crackerjack
cracker-jack
cracker jack
Crevalle jack
crevalle jack
cross-jack yard
culture-jack
culturejack
double jack
every man jack
flapjack
fry jack
green jack
hi-jack
horse-eye jack
ice-jack
jackable
jack-a-dandy
jack-a-lantern
jack-all
jack all
jackanapes
jack-a-napes
jack arch
jack around
jack-ass
jack-back
jack-ball
jack bean
jack block
jack-booted
jack booted
jack-boot
jack boot
jackbox
jack-boy
jack boy
jack-by-the-hedge
jack chain
jack crevalle
jackdaw
jack-easy
jacked
jacker
jackfield
jackfish
jack-fool
jackfruit
jack-fruit
jack fruit
jackhandle
jack-hare
jackhole
jack-hunting
jacking
jack-in-office
jack-in-the-box
jack-in-the-bush
jack-in-the-pulpit
jack it
jackje
jack jumper
jack-knife
jackless
jacklight
jackman
jack nut
jack-of-all-trades
jack of all trades
jack of clubs
jack of diamonds
jack of hearts
jack of plate
jack of spades
jack-of-the-dust
jack-o-lantern
jack-o'-lantern
jack o'lantern
jack over
jack pine
jack plane
jack plug
jack post
jackpot
jackrabbit
jack-rabbit
jack rafter
jack salmon
jackscrew
jack screw
jackshaft
jack-sinker
jacksmith
jacksnipe
jackspeak
jack squat
jackstaff
jack-staff
jack stand
jackstone
jacktar
jack-tar
jack timber
jacktop
jack towel
jack truss
jack-up
jack-up-the-orchard
jackwood
Japanese jack mackerel
jaw-jack
jumping-jack
jumping jack
lance-jack
lazy jack
lumberjack
mangrove jack
minijack
minute-jack
monkey jack
new jack
new jack swing
one-eyed jack
one eyed jack
pallet jack
phone jack
pipejacking
pumpjack
pushing-jack
quarter jack
racing jack
ratchet jack
river jack
roasting jack
sand jack
screwjack
Senegal jack
single jack
skyjack
slippery jack
smokejack
smoke jack
spit jack
spring jack
steam jack
steeplejack
supple-jack
supple jack
telephone jack
three-cornered jack
toilet jack
trolley jack
two-eyed jack
Union Jack
unjack
whip-jack
whiskeyjack
whiskey-jack
whiskey jack
whitetongue jack
yellowfin jack
yellow jack
Y-jack