jackanapesn.

Brit.

/ˈdʒakəneɪps/, U.S.

/ˈdʒækəˌneɪps/

Inflections: plural jackanapes, jackanapeses.

Forms: Also with capital initial(s).

α. Middle English iac nape, Middle English iac napes, Middle English iack napys, Middle English iake napys, Middle English jak napes, Middle English–1500s iack napis, 1500s iack 'nape, 1500s iacke napes, 1500s iacke-napes, 1500s iackenapes, 1500s iacknapes, 1500s jacke napes, 1500s–1600s iack napes, 1600s jack'napes, 1600s jack-napes, 1600s jacknape, 1600s shacknapes.

β. 1500s iack of napes, 1500s iacke of napes, 1500s jack of napes.

γ. 1500s iack a napes, 1500s iacke a napes, 1500s–1600s jack a napes, 1600s iack-a-napes, 1600s jack a-napes, 1600s–1700s jack-a-napes.

δ. 1500s–1600s iack an apes, 1500s–1600s iacke an apes, 1500s–1600s jacke an apes, 1600s iack an-apes, 1600s iack and apes, 1600s iack-an-apes, 1600s iacke an-apes, 1600s iacke-an apes, 1600s iacke-an-apes, 1600s jack-and-apes, 1600s 1800s jack-an-apes.

ε. 1500s iackeanapes, 1500s–1600s iackanapes, 1500s– jackanapes, 1600s iacanapes, 1600s iackanaps, 1600s iakeanapes, 1600s jacanapes, 1600s jackanaps, 1600s jackinapse, 1800s– jackaneyaps (English regional (Isle of Wight)), 1800s– jackanips, 1800s– jackinapes.

η. 1600s iack-a-nape, 1600s jack a nape, 1600s jack-a-nape, 1600s 1800s– jackanape.

ζ. 1600s iack an ape, 1600s iack-an-ape, 1600s iacke an ape, 1600s jack an ape, 1600s 1800s jack-an-ape.

Origin: Probably from a proper name, combined with an English element. Etymons: proper name Jacun or Jakin , ape n.

Etymology: Probably < Jacun or Jakin, pet forms of the male forename Jack (see Jack n.²) + ape n., with final -s perhaps after surnames such as Jakkes , Hobbes , Symmes , etc.; apparently coined as a generic proper name for an ape or a person likened to an ape (compare Jack n.² Compounds 1a). Most later forms show reanalysis of the medial element as either a adj. or its variant an.The word appears first (in α. forms only) as an opprobrious nickname of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (murdered 1450), whose badge was an ape’s clog and chain: see sense 1. Compare similarly use of the Ape clogge as a nickname for the same person in another satirical poem of the same period, in which other noblemen are denominated by their badges or heraldic emblems, as the Swan, fiery Cresset, Portcullis, Wheat-ear, etc.: ▸ c1450 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 202 The Rote is ded, The swanne is goon, Þe firy Cressett hath lost his lyght... Þe White lioun is leyde to slepe Þorowȝ the Envy of the Ape clogge.It seems likely that this specific application to Suffolk reflects earlier currency of the word in either sense 2 or sense 3 (or both), although it is also possible that the word originated as a nickname for Suffolk. Since the α. forms are the earliest attested, it is also possible that the n- may have arisen not from an but as a hypocoristic form, similar to Ned (see ned n.²), Noll , or Nell , although this seems much less likely. With the ε. forms compare also Older Scots jokanaipis (rare).

†1. In form Jack Napes. A depreciative nickname for: William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450). Obsolete.Arising from the heraldic badge of William de la Pole, which was an ape’s clog (clog n. 2a) and chain; see etymology.

ΚΠ

c1450 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 186 Iack napys, with his clogge, Hath tied talbot, oure gentill dogge. Wherfore Beaumownt, þat gentill rache, Hath brought Iack napis in an evill cache.

a1475 ( in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 187 Iac Napes wolde on the see a maryner to ben, With his clog & his cheyn, to seke more tresour... For Iac Napes soule, Placebo and dirige.

2. An ape or monkey, typically one kept as a curiosity or for entertainment.

†a. As a proper name. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > group Catarrhinae (Old World monkey) > member of superfamily Hominoidea (apes and humans) > family Pongidae (ape)

babiona1529

jackanapes1528

Johnanapes1633

man-monkey1651

ape1699

pygmy1699

Simia1719

great ape1771

anthropoid1861

pithecoid1874

man-ape1878

pongid1949

pithecine1962

1528 W. Tyndale Obed. Christen Man f. lxix Noddinge, beckinge and mowinge, as it were Iacke a napes.

a1529 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte (?1545) 651 He grynnes and he gapis As it were iack napis.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. H4 Women that haue as much knowledg in phisick or surgery as hath Iackeanapes.

1614 W. Browne Shepheards Pipe ii. sig.C8^v Some like him to a trimmed Asse, And some to Iacke-an-Apes.

1637 W. Camden Remaines (ed. 5) 294 Can Iack an Ape be merry when his clog is at his heel?

b. As a common noun. archaic after 18th cent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > monkey

apea700

mercat1481

jackanapesa1529

monkey1530

pug1598

puggy1662

meerkat1801

monkey-man1819

monk1841

simian1861

Moloch1929

a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Fiiii^v To mockynge to mowynge to lyke a Iackenapes.

1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. C A sight of Asses then, there stoode in battell ray, With Iacke an apeses on their backes.

1636 D. Featley Clavis Mystica xxxviii. 575 A Jack an Ape, a cat, or some such contemptible creature.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 7 Some brought Jackanaps's, such green Ones as are commonly seen in England to be sold.

1740 Ld. Chesterfield Lett. (1932) (modernized text) II. 431 Dressing him out like a jackanapes, and giving him money to play the fool with.

1778 Morning Chron. 9 May A man tried for saying that another had as much law as a jackanapes.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth xii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 321 Had I but a rebeck or a guitar at my back, and a jackanapes on my shoulder.

1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xvii. 163 I could see him climbing like a jackanapes.

1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor (1987) iii. xv. 651 Her shift was ragged, filthy stuff, and she grunted and scratched about her person like a jackanapes picking fleas.

2012 K. Bowman & K. Springsteen Something like Lady iv Why are you—grinning like a jackanapes?

3. A person possessing or exhibiting qualities or behaviour associated with (tame) apes or monkeys, esp. in playing tricks, being vain or ostentatious, assuming ridiculous airs, or acting in an impudent or impertinent manner.In some early quots. possibly also influenced by sense 1, perhaps due to the fact that William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, was widely viewed as an upstart.

†a. As a depreciative name or nickname. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > impudence > [noun] > impudent person

bolda1400

capron hardya1477

malaperta1529

jackanapes1534

past-shame1553

saucea1556

saucy-face1566

outfacer1579

impudent1586

Jack sauce?1590

brazen-face1602

impertinence1611

impertinent1612

insolency1613

insolenta1616

brass-face1647

flapsea1652

impudence1671

bold-face1692

ironface1697

Corinthian1699

scandal-proof1699

saucy-box1702

busker1728

insolence1740

effronterist1776

pert1785

nash-gab1816

card1853

pawk1855

sass-box1856

a one1880

cockapert1881

1534 Lett. & Papers Henry VIII (Rolls) VII. 39 As he played at cards with me..[he] said I played Jacke Napes with him.

1573 G. Harvey Schollers Loove in Let.-bk. (1884) 120 I, quoth Iack a napes, by these ten bones, Nothinge happens amiss to a præparid minde.

1600 M. Sutcliffe Briefe Replie to Libel vii. 159 It was nothing else, but a loftie tricke of iacke an apes.

1699 tr. Terence Fair Andrian v. in Terence's Comedies Made Eng. 49 Reported, Jackanapes?—O prodigious Impudence! was ever such an unthinking Coxcomb? Do's he repent of any thing he has done? Nay has he Grace so much as to blush at it?

1760 London Chron. 30 Aug. 201/2 Now, Jackanapes, I think you're fitted For all the stuff with which you twitted Those whom you ought t'adore.

b. As a common noun. In later use also (chiefly humorous): a mischievous or cheeky child. Now somewhat archaic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [noun] > person

up-skip1549

startup1555

upstart1555

jackanapesa1575

hogen mogen1639

starter up1659

Mamamouchi1672

parvenu1787

shoneena1849

fine gentleman1928

rat fink1961

a1575 N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 291 This the Divell's Jackanapes made pastime to Lucifer.

1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. H^v A iollie light timberd Iacke a Napes, in a sute of watchet Taffata.

1610 Histrio-mastix vi. 56 Now stands at every door a Iack and Apes, And tels me 'tis too late, his Lord hath din'd.

1689 R. Milward Selden's Table-talk 47 They tell him he's a Jackanapes, a Rogue and a Rascal.

1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 10 May (1932) (modernized text) III. 1147 I always put these pert jackanapeses out of countenance.

1783 Morning Herald & Daily Advertiser 8 Jan. A pert little hussey, not out of her teens, with a young jackanapes by her side, accosted me.

1820 W. Scott Abbot I. iv. 89 She hath favoured, doth favour, and will favour, this jack-an-ape.

1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. iv. 61 A whiskered..jackanapes as that officer..set to command grey-headed men before he can command his own meanest passions.

1894 R. D. Blackmore Perlycross III. xi. 216 You guffawing jackanapes.

1926 J. Galsworthy Silver Spoon i. vi, in Mod. Comedy (1929) 299 Who were the aristocracy, to give themselves airs? Jackanapes!

1989 J. U. Ribeiro Invincible Memory viii. 190 And here goes Grandpa Leléu out on a hunting trip like an idiot because of that little jackanapes.

2011 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 19 Mar. (Sport section) 28 I am too distracted, not to say totally irritated, by the assembled jackanapes waving to the camera or talking on their mobile phones behind and around him.

†4. depreciative. A crucifix. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > artefacts > symbol (general) > Christian symbols or images > [noun] > cross > crucifix

crucifix?c1225

jackanapes1562

1562 J. Bullingham Let. 26 Apr. in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) I. 1541/1 I wyl rather haue these knees pared of, then I will kneele to yonder iacknapes.

†5. Mining. A small guide pulley or roller used to keep a rope straight in the raising of ore or water from a mine. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > tackle > pulley > types of

ram-head1611

pentaspast1702

differential pulley1833

jackanapes1844

well pulley1855

brake-pulley1873

1844 F. W. Simms Pract. Tunnelling viii. 79 A pole, of which there were two, called jackanapes poles because they carry what are technically called the jackanapes,..whose use was to keep the rope straight in passing from the drum to the head gearing, and had small friction rollers for it to work upon.

1867 W. W. Smyth Treat. Coal & Coal-mining xiv. 160 The ropes, passing off from opposites sides of the drum, are conducted over little guide-pulleys—jackanapes—to the sheaves set in the shaft-frame overhanging the pit.

Phrases

jackanapes on horseback (also †jackanapes a horseback) (a) any variety of marigold or daisy which has a flower with smaller flowers or flower-like parts growing from its edge (cf. hen and chickens n. 2a) (now historical and rare); (b) a polyanthus having flowers with leaf-like or petal-like sepals and bracts (now historical).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > composite flowers > other composite flowers

ox-eyea1400

starwort?a1450

Jupiter's beard1567

goldenrod1568

achillea1597

blue camomile1597

blue daisy1597

cineraria1597

hog's bean1597

jackanapes on horseback1597

sea-starwort1597

sultan flower1629

mouse-ear1696

aster1706

Canada goldenrod1731

ageratum1737

rudbeckia1751

coreopsis1753

melampodium1754

Aaron's rod1760

zinnia1761

Michaelmas daisy1767

China aster1785

New England aster1785

catananche1798

sea-aster1812

cosmea1813

cosmos1813

gazania1813

erigeron1815

gousblom1822

Christmas daisy1829

rhodanthe1834

tassel-flower1836

ligularia1839

old maid1839

mountain daisy1848

purple coneflower1848

acroclinium1852

sea ox-eye1856

thimble-weed1860

helipterum1862

treasure-flower1866

Swan River daisy1873

blanket flower1879

cone-flower1879

blue marguerite1882

Solidago1883

yellow-top1887

Gaillardia1888

gerbera1889

youth and old age1889

pussytoes1892

niggerhead1893

Transvaal daisy1899

Barberton daisy1906

onion grass1909

ursinia1928

Cupid's dart1930

Livingstone daisy1932

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > primrose and allied flowers > cowslip

cowslipc1000

primerolea1350

herb Peter?a1450

Peter?a1450

paigle?c1450

St. Peter's wort1526

pigle1570

jackanapes on horseback1597

palsywort1597

galligaskin1629

passwort1671

fairy cups1855

1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 602 Calendula maior prolifera... This fruitfull or much bearing Marigolde, is..called of the vulgar sort of women Iacke an apes a horse backe.

1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 635 Oxelip..whose flowers are curled and wrinckled after a most strange maner, which our women haue named, Iacke an apes on horsebacke.

1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole xxxv. 247 The Franticke, Fantasticke, or Foolish Cowslip, in some places is called by Country people, Iacke an Apes on horse-backe, which is an vsuall name with them, giuen to many other plants, as Daisies, Marigolds, &c. if they be strange or fantasticall, differing in the forme from the ordinary kinde of the single ones.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory vii. 70/2 The Jack-an-Apes on Horse-back, or the fantastick Cowslip, hath the flower all green and jagged, like to a Juli flower.

1839 Carthusian May 470 How to settle a coxcomb cockney with a bunch of ‘London-pride’; to roast a quizzical anti-benedict with a dressing of ‘batchelor's buttons’, or to mystify some aspiring cornet with a ‘jackanapes-on-horseback’.

1874 Florist & Pomologist May 106 The Jackanapes-on-Horseback is an exaggerated form of this latter [sc. Galligaskins], in which the bracts at the base of the umbel also become large and foliaceous.

1956 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 69 15 There are, furthermore, two varieties of Bellis perennis, one of which (known chiefly in England) goes under such names as March Daisy, Childers, Childing Daisy, Jackanapes-on-Horseback, and Hen and Chickens Daisy, or just Hen and Chickens.

2002 Times (Nexis) 30 Mar. Then there is the Jackanapes, with a striped calyx..; the Gallygaskins, with an enlarged, ribbed calyx; and even double and triple mutations such as the Jackanapes on Horseback.

Compounds

C1. General attributive and appositive (in senses 2 and 3).

ΚΠ

1569 T. Roest tr. J. van der Noot Theatre Worldlings f. 44^v Moreouer their too too muche knowne trumperies, and Iack an Apes plays, are no lesse blasphemous than processions, confirmations..Candlemasse, Palm sonday. &c.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) i. iv. 103 I will teach a scuruy Iack-a-nape Priest to meddle, or make.

1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir ii. sig. D^v All my feare is of that pinke-an-eye Iacke-an Apes boy, her page.

1814 M. Edgeworth Patronage I. iii. 74 The squire..declared ‘that he would not be brow-beat by any..Jackanapes Colonel’.

1881 W. Besant & J. Rice Chaplain of Fleet III. xvii. 42 Any jackanapes lawyer..might think it fine thus to insult..a harmless nobleman.

2016 Sunday Times (Nexis) 8 May 29 Was it for this kind of jackanapes buffoonery that they lay amid the snow in midwinter ambushes, night after night?

C2.

jackanapes coat n. now historical (a) a flamboyant, brightly coloured coat, esp. one fashionable in the Restoration period; (b) a short close-fitting jacket, esp. as worn by sailors; = monkey jacket n. 1.In quot. 1626 perhaps with the depreciative sense ‘a showy coat of the type a vain or ostentatious person might wear’; cf. sense 3.

ΚΠ

1626 W. Vaughan Golden Fleece i. iv. 46 A yeeres penance there in the Inquisition house with wearing a Iackanapes Coat of many colours..euery Holy-day during the time of Masse for one whole yeare.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 5 July (1970) I. 193 This morning my brother Tom brought me my Jackanapes coat with silver buttons.

1845 C. MacFarlane Dutch in Medway ii. 36 I had but two cloth coats in the world, and that grey jackanapes coat with the black bindings I was fain to make last for Sundays and holidays for three whole years.

1978 ‘V. Sherwood’ This Towering Passion x. 165 Today he was wearing one of the new ‘jackanapes’ coats of heavily embroidered greenish-gold satin.

2005 B. Little Sea Rover's Pract. (2007) viii. 88 Short tarred ‘jackanapes’ coats were usual, as were sea coats made of pilot cloth.

Derivatives

ˈjackaˌnapery n. action or behaviour characteristic of a jackanapes.

ΚΠ

1842 Fraser's Mag. Oct. 448/1 That monument of congenial jackanapery reared..in caricature of an Elizabethan mansion.

1914 Yale Lit. Mag. June 423 Take away the jesters from the many places where they do but mar the seriousness of the scene, and, giving them a play to themselves, let them practice their jackanapery each upon appreciative other.

2016 J. Metcalfe Museum at End of World 125 He had been taken to Tennessee State Prison for some jackanapery with a pistol.

ˈjackaˌnapish adj. rare

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [adjective]

taunt?a1534

cocket1537

fastuous?1591

cobbing1599

whalebone1602

airy1606

fastigious1625

flatuous1630

high and mighty1633

vapouring1647

flatulent1658

hoity-toity1690

jackanapish1696

superior1711

penseful1788

uppish1789

pensy1790

stuck-up1812

glorified1821

toploftical1823

pretentious1832

sophomoric1837

highty-tighty1847

snippy1848

jumped-up1852

set-up1856

toplofty1859

cock-aloft1861

high-tone1864

high-toned1866

pretensivea1868

fancy-pants1870

hunched1870

snotty1870

head-in-air1880

uppity1880

jackanapsian1881

airified1882

sidey1898

posh1914

upstage1918

snooty1919

high-hatted1924

hincty1924

snot-nosed1941

posho1989

1696 R. Godson Astrologia Reformata 47 Afford them Colour for Jackanapish Brags and Pretences.

1884 J. Bull's Neighb. vii. 50 Go into a bureau de poste, and see how you will be insulted by the jackanapish officialism there.

2003 Lit. Rev. Oct. 47 All Dali-esque imagery and jackanapish jingles.

† jackaˈnapsian adj. Obsolete rare

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