jack¹ /jak/

1. (with cap) a familiar form or diminutive of John
2. (with cap) the common man (obsolete)
3. (with cap) a contemptuous term for an ordinary man (obsolete)
4. (usu with cap) an ill-mannered, vulgar or boorish fellow (obsolete)
5. (sometimes with cap) an attendant, servant or labourer
6. (often with cap) a sailor
7. (with cap) used in addressing a man whose name is unknown to the speaker (US sl)
8. A detective (slang)
9. Money (US sl)
10. Nothing at all (also jack shit; US vulgar sl)
11. A machine or device which orig took the place of a servant, such as a boot-jack for taking off boots, a device for turning a spit (smoke-jack, roasting jack), a device for raising heavy weights
12. A winch
13. A socket whose connections operate either to complete or break the circuit only when a jack plug is inserted (telecommunications, etc)
14. A figure that strikes the bell in clocks
15. The male of some animals
16. A jackass (also jack donkey)
17. A jack rabbit
18. A jackdaw
19. A jackfish
20. Any of various tropical and subtropical carangid fishes
21. (in keyboard instruments) part of the action that moves the hammer or carries the quill or tangent
22. The key itself (Shakespeare)
23. A contrivance for guiding threads in a loom
24. A saw-horse
25. A jack-crosstree (nautical)
26. A small flag indicating nationality, flown by a ship, usu at the bow or the bowsprit
27. A leather pitcher or bottle
28. A playing card bearing the picture of a young man, a knave
29. (in pl) the game of dibs (also jackˈstones)
30. A piece used in this game (also jackˈstone)
31. The small white ball aimed at in bowls
32. (with cap) a Jacqueminot rose

1. To raise with, or as if with, a jack (with up)
2. To act upon with a jack
3. To throw up or abandon (usu with in or, formerly, up; slang)
4. To increase (eg prices) (with up)
5. To connect electronically (with in or into; informal)
6. To contrive, organize, or set in motion (with up; NZ inf)

1. (with up) to give up (old slang)
2. (with off) to masturbate (slang)
3. (with up) to inject oneself, take a fix (drug sl)
4. (with up) to refuse, resist (Aust sl)
5. (with around) to waste time, behave irresponsibly (informal)

Tired, fed up

Jackˈeen or jackˈeen noun (Irish derog sl)

A person from Dublin, esp one with a parochial attitude

Jackˈy or Jackˈy-Jacky noun (Aust offensive sl)

A nickname for an Aborigine

Jack-a-danˈdy noun

A dandy or fop, esp if diminutive

Jack-a-lanˈtern noun

A Jack-o'-lantern

Jackˈ-a-Lent noun (Shakespeare)

A boy (for Jack of Lent a kind of puppet formerly used as an Aunt Sally in Lent)

jack bean noun

A subtropical American climbing bean (genus Canavalia)

jackˈ-block noun

A block of pulleys used for raising and lowering topgallant-masts

jackˈboot noun

1. A large boot reaching above the knee, to protect the leg, orig covered with iron plates and worn by cavalry
2. Military rule, esp when brutal (figurative)

intransitive verb

(with around; also transitive verb with it) to behave in an oppressive or brutally authoritarian way, to domineer, throw one's weight around

jackˈbooted adjective

jackˈ-by-the-hedge noun

(also with cap) garlic mustard

jack-crossˈtree noun (nautical)

The crosstree at the head of a topgallant-mast

jack easy adjective

Indifferent, not caring one way or the other

jackˈfish noun

A young pike

Jackˈ-fool noun

A fool

Jack Frost noun

Frost or freezing weather personified

Jackˈ-go-to-bed-at-noon noun

The plant goat's-beard

jackˈhammer noun

A hand-held compressed-air hammer drill for rock-drilling (also transitive verb)

jackˈ-high adjective and adverb

(in bowls) as far as the jack

Jackˈ-in-office noun

(also without cap) a vexatiously self-important petty official

Jackˈ-in-the-box noun

(also without cap) a toy figure that springs up from a box when the lid is released

Jackˈ-in-the-green noun

A May-Day dancer enclosed in a green shrubby framework

Jackˈ-in-the-pulpit noun

1. A N American plant (Arisaema triphyllum) like cuckoo pint
2. Also applied to various other plants, esp of the genus Arisaema

Jack Ketch noun (historical)

A public hangman, from one so named under James II

jackˈknife noun

1. A large clasp knife
2. A dive in which the performer doubles up in the air and straightens out again

intransitive verb and transitive verb

1. To double up as a jackknife does
2. (of articulated vehicles or parts) through faulty control, to form, or cause to form, an angle of 90º or less

Jack Mormon noun (US)

1. A non-Mormon living amicably in a Mormon community
2. An inactive, lapsed or nominal Mormon

Jack-of-allˈ-trades noun

(also without cap) someone who can turn a hand to anything

Jack-o'-lanˈtern noun

1. (also without cap) a will-o'-the-wisp
2. A lantern made from a hollowed-out pumpkin, turnip, etc with holes cut to resemble eyes, mouth and nose

jack pine noun

Any of several N American species of pine

jack plane noun

A large strong plane used by carpenters

jack plug noun (telecommunications, etc)

A one-pronged plug used to introduce an apparatus quickly into a circuit

jackˈpot noun

1. A money pool in card games, competitions, etc that can be won only on certain conditions being fulfilled and accumulates until such time as they are (see also hit the jackpot below)
2. A prize-money fund
3. Orig a poker game, played for the pot or pool (consisting of equal stakes from all the players), which must be opened by a player holding two jacks or better
4. A mess, an awkward situation (US sl)

Jackˈ-priest noun (derogatory)

A parson

Jackˈ-pudding noun (historical)

A professional buffoon, a jester

jack rabbit noun

A long-eared American hare

jackˈ-rafter noun

A rafter shorter than the rest, as in a hip-roof

Jack Russell or Jack Russell terrier noun

A breed of small terrier, introduced by John Russell, 19c parson

Jackˈ-sauce noun (Shakespeare)

An impudent fellow

jack screw noun same as screw jack (see under screw).

jack shaft or jackˈshaft noun (engineering)

An intermediate shaft, eg between a motor and the wheels it drives

jack shit noun (chiefly US sl)

Nothing at all

Jackˈ-slave noun (Shakespeare)

A low servant, a vulgar fellow

jackˈsmith noun (obsolete)

A maker of roasting jacks

jackˈsnipe noun

Any of various small species of snipe

Jack Sprat noun

A diminutive fellow

jackˈ-staff noun

The staff on a ship on which the jack (flag) is hoisted

jackˈ-stays plural noun

Ropes or strips of wood or iron stretched along the yards of a ship to bind the sails to

Jack Straw or jackˈ-straw noun

1. A straw effigy
2. A man of straw, a lightweight
3. A straw or slip used in the game of Jack Straws or spillikins

Jack tar noun

(also without cap) a sailor

Jack the lad noun

A flashy, cocksure young man

jack towel noun

A continuous towel passing over a roller

jackˈ-up noun

1. An offshore oil rig or accommodation platform, etc secured by legs that are lowered from the platform to the seabed (also jackˈ-up rig)
2. An act of non-co-operation or resistance (Aust sl)
3. A swindle or other dishonest arrangement (NZ inf)

Jacky-Jacky see Jacky above.

before you can or could say Jack Robinson

Very quickly

cheap-Jack see under cheap

every man Jack

One and all, everybody

hit the jackpot

1. To win a jackpot
2. To have a big success or stroke of good fortune

I'm all right, Jack

An expression of selfish or indifferent complacency at the misfortunes or difficulties of others

steeplejack see under steeple

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