Jack sb.¹

Forms: 3–5 Iakke, 3–7 Iacke, 5 Iak, 6–7 Iack, 7– Jack, jack. [A pet-name or by-name, used as a familiar equivalent of John; in ME. Jakke, Jacce, Jacke, a disyllable: cf. the analogous Cebbe, Colle, Dawe, Geffe, Gibbe, Grigge, Hicke, Hobbe, Hogge, Hudde, Judde, Symme, Thomme, Watte, mentioned along with Jacke, in Gower’s Vox Clamantis, i. 783–91.

  The actual origin is disputed. It has been generally assumed to be the same word as F. Jacques, in OF. also Jaques, Jaqves (:—*Jacbes:—late L. Ja·cobus, for Jacōbus, Gr. Ἰάκωβος Jacob) James; also a familiar name for a peasant, a man of the lower orders (cf. JACQUERIE). But it has been used in Eng. from its earliest appearance as a byname of Johan, Jan, John; and a strong case has been made out by E. W. B. Nicholson, M.A., Bodley’s Librarian (The Pedigree of Jack and of various allied names, 1892) for its actual origination as a pet-form of that word. Cf. esp. the recognized diminutives Jankin and Jackin (as contained in the surnames Jacken (1327), Jackins, Jackinson), and the relation between Dick and Dickin, Rob and Robin, etc. The Scotch equivalent form of the name is JOCK, but this has not the transferred senses of Jack.]

  I.  Applied to a man, or the figure of one.

  1.  (As proper noun.) A familiar by-form of the name John; hence, a generic proper name for any representative of the common people.

  [Occurs as a fore-name in the Worcestershire Lay Subsidy roll of 1276–82, which has also the variant or derivative Jacky. Jakkes occurs as a surname in Hants in 1279, and Jak as a surname in Norfolk in 1297.]

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 65. Saue Iacke þe Iogelour and Ionete of þe stuyues.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 393. Therwhile he hath his fulle packe, They seie, ‘A good felawe is Iacke.’

1414.  Hist. Monast. S. Augustini Cantuar. (Rolls), 338. Mos enim est … Saxonunm … verba ac nomina transformare … ut pro Thoma Tommé sive Tomlin, pro Iohanne Iankin sive Iacke.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 29. Jacke would be a gentleman if he could speake frenche.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (Arb.), 228–9. We vse the like termes by way of pleasant familiaritie … as … Mall for Mary, Nell for Elner: Iack for Iohn, Robin for Robert.

1635.  Heywood, Hierarchy, IV. 206.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 403, ¶ 5. Well Jack, the old Prig is dead at last.

1814.  Coleridge, Lett., II. 635. Jack, Tom, and Harry have no existence in the eye of the law, except as included in some form or other of the permanent property of the realm.

1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, viii. Thus did I become … the acknowledged … ‘Poor Jack of Greenwich.’

1892.  I. Taylor, in Academy, 26 March, 302/3. In 1379 … we find a Nicholaus Jakson Hughson, who must be the son of a man entered as Johannes Hughson. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that this Johannes Hughson was called Jak by his neighbours.

  b.  In conjunction with the female name Gill or Jill: see GILL sb.⁴ 2.

[14[?].  Lydg., London Lyckpeny, 83. Some songe of Ienken and Iulyan for there mede.]

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 340. And I wole kepe the feet this tyde Thow ther come both Iakke and Gylle.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., iii. 336. For Iak nor for Gille wille I turne my face.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 48. Al is well, Jack shall haue gill.

1661.  Needham, Hist. Eng. Rebell., 74. Princes are bray’d by Jack and Jill.

1670.  Ray, Proverbs, 108. A good Jack makes a good Gill.

1852.  Lytton, My Novel, III. x. If Gill was a shrew, it was because Jack did not, as in duty bound, stop her mouth with a kiss.

  c.  Cousin Jack: familiar name for a Cornishman: see COUSIN sb. 5 b.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, vi. 65. Cousin Jack Tressider, an opulent Cornish miner. Ibid., ix. 92. A short man, whose blue-black curly hair and deep-set eyes betrayed the Cousin Jack.

  † 2.  (As a common noun.) A man of the common people; a lad, fellow, chap; esp. a low-bred or ill-mannered fellow, a ‘knave.’ Obs.

1548.  Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke, vi. 65. A common poyncte of pleasure doyng, that euery iacke vseth.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 290. A mad-cap ruffian and a swearing Iacke.

1600.  Surflet, Countrie Farme, I. xvi. 108. They send them [geese] to the medowes … vnder the custodie of some little small Iacke, who may keepe them from going … into any forbidden places.

a. 1640.  Day, Parl. Bees, v. (1881), 33. A halter stretch thee: such ill-tutord jacks Poyson the fame of Patrons.

1682.  Bunyan, Holy War (Cassell), 354. But Mr. Unbelief was a nimble Jack; him they never could lay hold of.

1746.  Brit. Mag., 75. Familiar both with peers and Jacks.

  † b.  Phr. To play the jack: to play the knave, to do a mean trick. Obs.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 198. Your Fairy … Has done little better then plaid the Iacke with vs.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pestle, Induct. If you were not resolved to play the Jacks, what need you study for new subjects, purposely to abuse your betters?

1668.  Pepys, Diary, 23 Feb. Sir R. Brookes overtook us coming to town; who played the jacke with us all, and is a fellow that I must trust no more.

  c.  Phr. Every man jack (sometimes every Jack man): every individual man. colloq.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxxix. ‘You don’t mean to say their old wearers are all dead.’… ‘Every one of ’em…. Every man Jack!’

1866.  Mrs. Gaskell, Wives & Dau., I. i. 3. Every man-jack in the place gave his vote to the liege lord.

1870.  Thornbury, Tour Eng., II. xxviii. 233. They can’t swim, not one man Jack of them.

  3.  (As proper or common noun.) A familiar appellation for a sailor. Also JACK-TAR, q.v.

1659.  D. Pell, Impr. Sea, Proem. B iv. Hollanders … the Broom at the main…. The English took it down, and laid it most sadly upon Jack-Sailors breech.

1706.  [E. Ward], Wooden World Dissected (1708), 94. Let us e’en turn about, and view honest Jack the Sailor. Ibid., 98. Here he and his Brother Jacks lie pelting each other with Sea-Wit.

1776.  Abigail Adams, in J. Adams’ Fam. Lett. (1876), 186. We drank tea … on board…. Some of their Jacks played very well upon the violin.

1788.  Dibdin, Song, ‘Poor Jack.’ There’s a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft To keep watch for the life of poor Jack!

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xi. 25. There’s nothing for Jack to do but to obey orders, and I went up upon the yard.

1860.  L. Oliphant, Ld. Elgin’s Mission to China, I. 154. Our Jacks presented a most grotesque appearance as they returned to their ships.

  4.  Variously applied to a serving-man or male attendant, a laborer, a man who does odd jobs, etc. See also CHEAP Jack, STEEPLE-JACK, etc.

1836–7.  Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 59/2. Having a chat with the ‘jack,’ who, like all his tribe, seems to be wholly incapable of doing anything but lounging about. Ibid. (1861), Gt. Expect., liv. A grizzled male creature, the ‘Jack’ of the little causeway.

1875.  Baring-Gould, Yorksh. Oddities, I. 131. He [a blind man] became skilful at bowls and bribed the jacks to give him hints as to the direction he was to throw.

1898.  Daily News, 18 Oct., 6/4. I asked Mr. Morris by what stages his steeplejacks attained the handsome sum of 5l. per week. His answer is that a jack (unless already trained) begins his career by labouring, then [etc.].

  5.  Cards. Name for the knave of trumps in the game of all-fours; hence gen. any one of the knaves.

1674–80.  Cotton, Compl. Gamester, ix. This game … is called All Fours, from highest, lowest, jack, and game, which is the set as some play it. Ibid. He turns up a Card, which is Trump: if Jack (and that is any knave) it is one to the dealer.

1749.  Martin, Eng. Dict., Knave,… a jack at cards.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., viii. He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!

  b.  California jack: ‘a game of cards resembling all-fours’ (Cent. Dict.).

1890.  Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 15 Jan., 3/3. In a game of California Jack, A having two to go as well as B, claims his low, jack goes out before B’s high game.

  6.  A figure of a man that strikes the bell on the outside of a clock. (See Jack of the clock, in 36.)

  As the name of a mechanical contrivance, this sense is transitional to the next group.

1498–9.  in Kerry, Hist. Ch. St. Lawrence, Reading (1883), 97. It. payed for the settyng of Jak with the hangyng of his bell & mendyng his hond, iiij^d.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., IV. ii. 117. K. Rich. Well, let it strike. Buck. Why let it strike? K. Rich. Because that, like a Iack, thou keep’st the stroke Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.

1602.  Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, II. ii. This is the night, nine the hour, and I the jack that gives warning.

1609.  Dekker, Gulls Horne-bk., iv. If Powles Iacks bee once vp with their elbowes, and quarrelling to strike eleuen.

1771.  Antiq. Sarisb., 92. On the East side is a dial of near ten feet square, with quarter jacks under it.

1869.  H. Syer Cuming, in Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc., XXV. 378. There was an ancient clock in Old St. Paul’s, with Jacks to strike the hours.

  II.  Applied to things that in some way take the place of a lad or man, or save human labor; also more vaguely to other things with which one has to do.

  * To separate contrivances, machines, utensils, etc.

  7.  A machine for turning the spit in roasting meat; either wound up like a clock or actuated by the draught of heated air up the chimney (smoke-jack).

1587.  Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.), II. 190. The iacke whiche turneth the broche.

1606.  Dekker, Sev. Sinnes, II. (Arb.), 20. It stood altogether like a Germane clock, or an English Iack or Turne-spit, vpon skrewes and vices.

1615.  J. Stephens, Satyr. Ess., 285. The winding up of a iacke is better then musicke to his eares in Lent.

1660.  Pepys, Diary, 23 Oct. After supper we looked over … his wooden jack in his chimney, which goes with the smoke, which indeed is very pretty.

1724.  [see sense 11].

1778.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Sept. Our roasting is not magnificent, for we have no jack.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxix. Hugh … sent it twirling round like a roasting jack.

1844.  Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, xv. I have hung [it] … to the bottle-jack, so that when I wind it up it will keep turning round.

1845.  Eliza Acton, Mod. Cookery (ed. 2), 55. A smoke-jack, by means of which several spits, if needful, can be kept turning at the same time.

  8.  A name for various contrivances consisting (solely or essentially) of a roller or winch.

1572.  in Lincolnsh. N. & Q., I. 165. A Iack of wood for a towel and bason.

1623.  T. Scott, Projector, 26. You should finde some Iacks faulty, and some cogges missing, whereby the wheele of Iustice is hindered in his circular course.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 51. The Wood-work belonging to the Jack, is a Barrel, or Spit-wheel and a Handing of the Winch.

1776.  G. Semple, Building in Water, 37. There were Sluices … wound up and down by a Jack.

1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, 55. Iron Jacks, sometimes used instead of the table-wheel or back-frame wheel, differ from the latter by having an iron wheel with cogs, which work in the whirls.

  9.  A wooden frame for sawing wood upon.

1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 38. A Iack for to saw vpon fewell for fier.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 327. A Jack,… a Horse whereon they saw Wood.

1779.  Rees, Chambers’ Cycl., Jack is used also for a horse or wooden frame to saw timber upon.

  10.  A machine, usually portable, for lifting heavy weights by force acting from below; in the commonest form, having a rack and a pinion wheel or screw and a handle turned by hand. Also called lifting-jack and jack-screw.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 161. Jack,… an Engine used for the removing and commodious placing of great Timber.

1780.  Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXI. 65. The machine may be applied as a jack to raise great weights a little way from the ground.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 282. Fig. 341 represents the common or simple hand jack.

1851.  Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 236. Hydraulic lifting jack for railway engines and carriages.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Double-jack. See JACK-SCREW.

  b.  See quots.

1877.  N. W. Linc. Gloss., Jack … for supporting the axle-tree of a cart in order to remove one of the wheels.

1886.  Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Jack, a contrivance, consisting of a lever and fulcrum, used in washing carriages, to lift one side so that the wheel … may run round freely; sometimes called a ‘carriage-jack.’

  11.  A contrivance for pulling off boots; a boot-jack. rare or Obs. (exc. in the compound).

1679.  Trials Wakeman, etc. 22. He pull’d off his Boots … upon the frame of a Table, or else upon a Jack.

1734.  Watts, Logic, I. iv. § 8. So foot-boys, who had frequently the common name of Jack given them, were kept to turn the spit, or to pull off their master’s boots; but when instruments were invented for both these services, they were both called jacks.

  12.  Mining. a. ‘A kind of water-engine, turned by hand, used in mines. Staff.’ (Halliwell.) b. A wooden wedge or gad used in mining for assisting in the cleaving of strata. c. (See quot. 1851.)

1851.  Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 31. Whilst two pits or a pit and a staple are being sunk simultaneously by means of two gins, one of them, to prevent mistakes, is usually called a jack.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Jack,… a wedge.

1864.  Webster, Jack,… 10. A wooden wedge used by miners to separate rocks after blasting.

  13.  In many names of instruments in which it is combined with a defining word: e.g., lifting-jack, pegging-jack, shackle-jack, thill-jack, etc. q.v. Also Builder’s jack, a temporary staging or bracket projecting outwards from a window, used in cleaning, painting or repairing; also called window-jack (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1874). Round jack, ‘a stand for holding a hat while the brim is trimmed to shape’ (Cent. Dict.).

  ** To parts of instruments or machines.

  14.  In the virginal, spinet and harpsichord: An upright piece of wood fixed to the back of the key-lever, and fitted with a quill that plucked the string as the jack rose on the key’s being pressed down. (By Shaks. and some later writers erron. applied to the key.)

  Also applied to a similar upright piece terminating in the ‘tangent’ in a clavichord, or serving to raise the damper, or the hammer, in early pianofortes, sometimes also to the hopper, or a part of it, in a modern pianoforte.

1598.  Florio, Saltarélli, the iacks of a paire of virginals.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., cxxviii. How oft … Do I enuie those Iackes that nimble leape, To kisse the tender inward of thy hand.

1604.  Middleton, Father Hubbard’s T., Wks. (Bullen), VIII. 97. Her teeth chattered in her head, and leaped up and down like virginal-jacks.

1644.  Digby, Nat. Bodies, xxxii. (1658), 335. Like the jack of a Virginall, which striketh the sounding cord.

1748.  Hartley, Observ. Man, I. ii. 229. The Treble Notes of a Harpsichord would be overpowered by the Bass ones, did not the Bits of Cloth affixed to the Jacks check the Vibrations of the Strings in due time.

1896.  A. J. Hipkins, Pianoforte, 103. The merit of introducing in the square piano the ‘hopper’—a jack with a spring and working in a notch or nose forming the front part of a lever, technically known as the ‘underhammer’—belongs to John Geib, who in 1786 took out a patent for this improvement.

  15.  In various machines.

  a.  An oscillating lever, such as those in a stocking-frame or knitting-machine.

1764.  Croker, etc. Dict. Arts, s.v. Stocking, The stocking-frame … the wheel by whose motion the jacks are drawn together upon the needles.

1829.  Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 242. The stocking-frame invented by the Rev. William Lea, or Lee … in 1589, was very simple, with jacks only.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., VIII. 128/2. The stocking-frame has a series of vibrating levers, called jacks, which … throw the … yarn into such curvatures as enable the needles to form the loops.

  b.  Weaving. = Heck-box: see HECK sb.¹ 8.

1875.  in Knight, Dict. Mech.

  attrib.  1844.  Whittier, Swedenborg, Pr. Wks. 1889, III. 274. Each human being who watches beside jack or power loom feels more or less intensely that it is a solemn thing to live.

  c.  Spinning. A coarse bobbin and fly-frame operating on the sliver from the carding-machine and passing the product to the fine roving-machine, or fitting it therefor.

1875.  in Knight, Dict. Mech.

  d.  Telegr., etc. A terminal in a telegraph or telephone, consisting of a spring-clip by means of which instruments can be expeditiously introduced into the circuit.

  16.  In carriages: see quot.

1794.  W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 78. Spring Jack. Fig. 11. This is a small engine fixed to the bottom of the spring…. Its use is to heighten or lower the body. Ibid., 80. A pair of spring jacks.

  *** To things of smaller than the normal size.

  † 17.  A very small amount; the least bit; a whit. Obs. colloq.

1530.  Palsgr., 233/2. Iacke or whitte nicquet, as I wyll nat gyve you a whyt.

  18.  In the game of Bowls, A smaller bowl placed as a mark for the players to aim at.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., II. i. 2. Was there euer man had such lucke? when I kist the Iacke vpon an vp-cast, to be hit away?

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Wit & Mirth, Wks. II. 193/2. The marke which they ayme at hath sundry names and Epithites, as a Blocke, a Iacke, and a Mistris.

1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 509. If I have a bowl in my hand and want it to touch the jack at the other end of the green.

1864.  Athenæum, No. 1920. 209/1. A bias that should reach the jack.

1875.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, III. I. iii. § 3. 683. The jack shall not be changed during a game, except by mutual consent of the players.

  19.  slang. a. A farthing. ? Obs. b. A counter made to resemble a sovereign: so half-jack.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack, a Farthing.

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 349/2. The ‘card-counters,’ or … the ‘small coins,’ are now of a very limited sale. The slang name for these articles is ‘Jacks’ and ‘Half Jacks.’ Ibid. It is hardly possible that any one who had ever received a sovereign in payment, could be deceived by the substitution of a Jack.

1873.  Slang Dict., Jacks, and half-jacks, card counters, resembling in size and appearance sovereigns and half-sovereigns.

  20.  A quarter of a pint: = the imperial gill, or half the northern GILL (q.v.). local.

1736.  Pegge, Kenticisms, s.v. Tamsin,… Jack, a measure, and Gill, another.

1787.  Grose, Provinc. Gloss., Jack, half a pint. Yorks.

1796.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xxiii. 357. To a pound of sugar put a jack of water.

1855.  Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Jack, a quarter of a pint measure.

1877.  N. W. Linc. Gloss., Jack, a quarter of a pint measure, and the quantity contained in one. Also in Holderness, Sheffield, Mid. Yorksh. Gloss.

  21.  Building. A small brick or ‘bat’ used as a closer at the end of a course. ? Obs.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 271. Imagine FEG to be a Stretcher, or a Stretching Archytrave … and imagining it to be thus divided; then EF is called a Header; or a heading Archytrave, and EG is called a Jak.

  22.  Naut. Short for jack cross-tree (see 33 b).

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxiv. Though I could handle the brig’s [fore-royal] easily, I found my hands full with this, especially as there were no jacks to the ship.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Jack,… also a common term for the jack or cross-trees.

1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 80. Rove through a block under the jack. Ibid., 84. The jack at the fore-top-gallant mast-head.

  **** To other things.

  23.  A vessel used in soap-making.

c. 1865.  Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 96/1. They are poured off into vessels called ‘jacks.’

  24.  A post-chaise. slang or colloq.

1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Jack, a post-chaise.

1816.  Prescott, Lett., in Ticknor, Life (1864), 36. We travelled upon jacks, which is the pleasantest conveyance in the world both for its sociability and the little fatigue which attends it.

  25.  A schooner-rigged vessel used in the Newfoundland fisheries.

  26.  A portable cresset or fire-basket used in hunting or fishing at night. U.S.

1895.  Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 61. Standing with my eyes below the level of the flaming jack.

  III.  In names of animals. (Chiefly as an abbreviation of the fuller names treated under sense 37.)

  27.  Applied to the male of various animals, chiefly in comb.: see 37; also simply: a. A male hawk, esp. merlin (= jack-merlin).

1623.  Cockeram, III. s.v. Hawks, A Merlin, the male is called a Iack. The Castrill male a Iack.

1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Hawk, The female … is much larger, stronger, and more couragious than the male, which is distinguished therefrom by some diminutive name … that of the merlin, jack.

  b.  (Short for JACKASS 1.) A male ass, esp. one kept for breeding mules. U.S.

1799.  Washington, Lett., Writ. 1893, XIV. 197. I have two or three young Jacks … and several she asses, that I would dispose of.

1839–40.  W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 250. A gentleman … took it into his head that it would be an immense public advantage to introduce a breed of mules, and accordingly imported three jacks to stock the neighborhood.

1873.  Longf., Wayside Inn, Monk of Casal-Maggiore, v. He leisurely untied From head and neck the halter of the jack.

  28.  Short for JACK-RABBIT.

1894.  Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 386/2. The Doctor’s experience with a jack rabbit was one of the most amusing of the hunt…. One day he wounded a big jack, and as he went to pick it up, it arose upon its hind legs.

  29.  Name for various birds. a. Short for JACKDAW, Jack-curlew (see 37), Cornish jack, the Cornish chough, JACK-SNIPE. b. As the second element in various names, as CURLEW jack, JUMPING jack, WHISKY jack: see these words.

1803–4.  Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 358. Curlew jacks (whimbrels).

1886.  Pall Mall Gaz., 15 Dec., 4/2. It may be said both of full snipe and jack that they afford not only the best, but the most legitimate kind of sport.

  30.  Name of various fishes, etc. a. A young or small pike; also sometimes used generically as a name for the pike. (Pl. jack or jacks.)

1587.  Harrison, England, III. iii. (1878), II. 18. The pike as he ageth, receiueth diuerse names,… from a pod to a iacke, from a iacke to a pickerell, from a pickerell to a pike.

1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 279. Old great Pikes are very hard, tough, and ill to digest; young ones, called Jacks, are contrariwise too waterish and moist.

a. 1658.  Cleveland, Count. Com. Man, Wks. (1677), 97. The Jack may come to swallow the Pike, as the Interest often eats out the Principal.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 108, ¶ 5. The Gentleman … had the pleasure of seeing the huge Jack, he had caught, served up for the first Dish.

1787.  Best, Angling (ed. 2), 47. A method which I have taken more pikes and jacks with, than any other way.

1825.  Brockett, Jack, a young male pike, under a foot in length.

1883.  Gd. Words, 12. Jack may be caught in the river Roding.

  b.  Also applied to several American fishes: as the pike-perch, Stizostedium vitreum; a scorpænoid fish, Sebastodes paucispinis; several carangoid fishes, esp. Caranx pisquetos and Seriola carolinensis; and the pampano, Trachynotus carolinus. (Cent. Dict.)

1897.  Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 231/2. Other game fishes of Florida are the ‘jack,’ or crevallé, also called carvalho.

  c.  With defining word. Buffalo-jack, the Caranx pisquetos (also called simply jack: see b). Five-fingered jack: popular name in U.S. for a starfish. Goggle-eyed jack: see GOGGLER 2. Hickory-jack, (a) the Caranx pisquetos or one of several other carangoid fishes (see b); (b) the hickory-shad, Pomolobus mediocris.

  d.  Poor Jack (also dry or dried Jack), a name for dried hake; also called Poor John.

1667.  Lond. Gaz., No. 218/2. This week arrived here 9 English ships, whereof 4 with Pilchards, 4 with poor Jack, and one with Herrings.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, xiii. 67. They pay … half a pound of dried Jack.

1682.  J. Collins, Making Salt Eng., 93. That sort of Cod that is caught near the Shore, and on the Coast of Newfoundland and dryed, is called Poor-Jack.

1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4026/3. Lading, consisting of … Dry Codfish, Dry Jack, Hogslard.

1708.  W. King, Cookery, 103. Sometimes poor jack and onions are his dish And then he saints those friars who stink of fish.

  † 31.  A kind of worm used as bait by anglers. Obs.

1681.  Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., iv. § 8 (1689), 36. Crabtree-worm or Jack.

  IV.  32. In names of plants. pop. or colloq.

  a.  A variety of polyanthus: ‘one of the forms of the so-called “hose-in-hose” polyanthus, having the calyx more or less coloured, and partly assuming the character of the corolla.’ (Britten and Holland, Plant-n., 1879). Cf. JACK-IN-THE-BOX 8 b.

  b.  Name for a single carnation fraudulently sold as a choice variety.

1878.  Gard. Chron., 16 March, 349 (Britt. & Holl.). Jacks is the horticultural slang, designation for single carnations, which are grown specially for the trading hawker … and sold to the unsuspicious as best named varieties.

1882.  Garden, 16 Sept., 250/3. [He] has been victimised by the sharp dealers in single Carnations, usually called ‘Jacks.’

  V.  Combinations and compounds.

  33.  Combinations denoting things, etc. (chiefly mechanical or other contrivances), or connected with those senses of the simple word which denote things: jack-back [BACK sb.²], (a) in Brewing, a vessel with a perforated bottom for straining the wort from the hops (also called hop-back: see HOP sb.¹ 4 b); ‘a tank which receives the cooled wort in a vinegar-factory’ (Knight); jack-engine (Coal-mining), a donkey-engine; jack-file (see quots.); jack-fishing, (a) fishing for jack (sense 30); (b) U.S., fishing at night by means of a jack or cresset; jack-flyer, the fly-wheel of a roasting-jack; jack-head pump, ‘a form of lift-pump for mines and deep borings, in which the delivery-pipe is secured to the cylinder by a goose-neck’ (Knight, Dict. Mech.); jack-hunting U.S., hunting by means of a jack-light (sense 26); jack-ladder Naut., ‘one with wooden steps and side ropes’ (Knight), = JACOB’S LADDER 2; jack-lamp, (a) a Davy-lamp with a glass cylinder outside the gauze (Gresley, Gloss., 1883); (b) U.S. = sense 26; jack-lantern U.S., (a) = sense 26; (b) = JACK-O’-LANTERN 3; jack-maker, a maker of jacks, i.e., (usually) of roasting-jacks; jack-pin Naut., a belaying-pin; jack-pit (Coal-mining), ‘a shallow pit-shaft in a mine communicating with an overcast, or at a fault’ (Gresley, Gloss., 1883); jack-pot, in draw-poker, a pot or pool that has to accumulate until one of the players can open the betting with a pair of jacks or better; hence fig.; jack-pulley, the pulley of a roasting-jack; jack-roll, a winch or windlass turned directly by handles; jack roving-frame = JACK-FRAME 2; jack-sinker, each of a series of thin metal plates suspended from the front ends of the jacks in a stocking-frame or knitting-machine (see 15 a), and serving, in conjunction with the lead-sinkers, to form loops upon the thread; jack-spinner, a workman who operates a jack in spinning (see 15 c); jack-towel, a long towel with the ends sewed together, suspended from a roller. See also JACK-CHAIN, etc.

1764.  Croker, etc. Dict. Arts, s.v. Brew-house, The *jack-back … is placed something lower than the under-backs, and has a communication with them all; and out of this back the wort pumped into the coppers.

1816.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 568. The jack-back, which receives the wort after it has been boiled with the hops.

1830.  M. Donovan, Dom. Econ., I. 175. The liquor is pumped … into a large reservoir, called a jack-back, in which it is allowed to remain until all the yest has collected on the surface.

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, *Jack Engine (N.), the engine for raising men, débris, &c. in a sinking pit.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 303/1. *Jack-File, a broad File: with this Jack-Wheels have their Teeth cut in them.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 52. A Jack-file, is a broad File somewhat thin on both Edges, and stronger in the Middle.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 54. Jack Tackle of every description … Tackle for bottom and *jack fishing.

1731.  Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, I. 327. She … set her tongue a going with the fury of a *Jack-flyer.

1793.  Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2), V. 210. In the manner of (what is called) a *Jack Head Pump.

1899.  W. J. Stillman, in Contemp. Rev., May, 669. I went out after dark to kill a deer by the unsportsmanlike method of *jack-hunting.

1888.  H. P. Wells, in Harper’s Mag., Sept., 510/1. Occasionally a caribou is killed at night by the light of a *jack-lamp while seeking the grass growing in some boatable stream.

1886.  Pall Mall Gaz., 14 July, 5/1. I have stood motionless on a flat rock … amid the rushing water, with poised three-pronged spear behind a *jack-lantern, waiting for a sturgeon to come there.

1727.  Swift, Petit. Colliers, etc. The humble petition of the colliers, cooks, cook-maids, blacksmiths, *jack-makers, brasiers, and others.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Jack-pins, a name applied to the fife-rail pins.

1895.  O. Wister, in Harper’s Mag., March, 536/1. How would it do, he suggested, to have a round of *jack-pots … and then stop?

1897.  Star, 28 July, 2/5. The jackpot was worth it, for Miller represented the accumulated prize as having risen to £21,160.

1675.  J. Smith, Chr. Relig. App., II. 13. Such *Jack-pullies, and Weights … Atoms, which our modern Wits have fancied for the Springs of his Motion.

1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 28. Sinking with *Jack Rowl, or by Mens winding up the Rowl.

1878.  F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 498. This was done by the aid of a ‘jack roll,’ which is like the windlass over a common well.

1844.  G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., i. 31. *‘The Jack roving-frame’ in which the revolving can contained a bobbin whereon the roving was wound as fast as made.

1875.  Ure’s Dict. Arts, II. 817. The *jack sinkers falling successively from the loops on every alternate needle.

1819.  Pantologia, s.v. Printing, The carrying-roller … the receiving-rollers … are connected by a piece of linen, woollen, or hair cloth, in the manner of a *jack-towel, sewed round them.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxv. A clean jack towel behind the door.

  b.  In some uses jack has a diminutive force or meaning, denoting things that are smaller or slighter than the normal ones; as jack-arch, ‘an arch whose thickness is only of one brick’ (Gwilt, Archit., 1842–76); jack-block Naut. (see quot.); jack-bowl, the jack at bowls; = sense 18; jack-cross-tree Naut.: see quot. 1867; jack-rafter, -rib, -timber, one shorter than the full length. (See also 18–22, 29, 30, 32 b, 37 b, and JACK sb.³)

1885.  E. W. Lightner, in Harper’s Mag., March, 525/2. The windows are capped with *jack-arches of red brick.

1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 168. *Jack-block, a small block seized to the topgallant-mast-head, for sending the topgallant-yards up and down.

1697.  R. Peirce, Bath Mem., II. ii. 264. He had not Strength … to throw the *Jack-Bowl half over the Green.

1803.  Sporting Mag., XXII. 307. In shape and size like a jack-bowl, used on a bowling-green.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xx. 61. The quarter boom-irons off her lower yards; her *jack-cross-trees sent down.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Jack cross-trees, single iron cross-trees at the head of long top-gallant masts, to support royal and skysail masts.

1757.  Langley, Builder’s Jewell, 33. Which fill up with small and *Jack Rafters at Pleasure.

1881.  Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 1336. 615. It will be noticed that these rafters which are called jack-rafters decrease gradually in length.

1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 110. In the construction of groins,… the ribs that are shorter than the whole width are termed *Jack-ribs. Ibid., 225. *Jack Timber, a timber shorter than the whole length of other pieces in the same range.

  34.  As the first element in a personal name used in a specific sense: a. Jack Adams, a fool. b. Phr. Before one can say jack Robinson: in a very short time, very quickly or suddenly. (See also JACK KETCH.)

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack-adams, a Fool.

a. 1704.  T. Brown, Lett. fr. Dead, II. Wks. 1760, II. 220. That from a quaker in the other world, I should be metamorphosed into a jack-adams in the lower one.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Jack Adams, a stubborn fool.

  b.  1778.  Miss Burney, Evelina (1792), II. xxxvii. I’d do it as soon as say Jack Robinson.

1814.  Mrs. Shelley, in Dowden, Life Shelley (1887), I. 453. The white and flying cloud of noon, that is gone before one can say ‘Jack Robinson.’

  35.  Prefixed to another noun denoting a person, a thing personified, a trade, or a quality, so as to form a quasi-proper name or nickname, often applied familiarly or contemptuously; as Jack Blunt (a blunt fellow), Jack boot(s (the ‘Boots’ at an inn), Jack bragger, Jack breech, Jack fellow, Jack fiddler, Jack fool, Jack jailer, Jack lord, Jack lout, Jack malapert, Jack mate, Jack meddler, Jack monkey, Jack Presbyter, Jack Priest; † Jack Drum: see DRUM sb.¹ 3 b; Jack Frost, frost or frosty weather personified; † Jack-gentleman, a man of low birth or manners making pretensions to be a gentleman, an insolent fellow, an upstart; so † jack-gentlewoman (rare); Jack Nasty, ‘a term of reproach for a sneak or a sloven’ (Davies); Jack northwester, the northwest wind; † Jack-sauce, a saucy or impudent fellow; Jack sprat, a little fellow, a dwarf; † Jack-stickler, a meddlesome or interfering person, a busybody.

1898.  Daily News, 17 Nov., 5/4. He was at once a *Jack Blunt and equal to a trick.

1803.  Censor, 1 March, 31. Sixpence to the chamber-maid, six-pence to the ostler, and sixpence to the *jack-boot.

1824.  Hist. Gaming, 10. The Jack-boots of an Inn.

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 873/2. We shall see *iack-braggers, truce breakers, tratours full of crueltie & malice.

1522.  Skelton, Why not to Court, 331. No man dare come to the speche Of this gentell *Iacke breche.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. iii. 65. Scuruy-*Iack-dog-Priest: by gar, mee vill cut his eares.

1591.  Greene, Disc. Coosnage, 26. With a broken pate or two he was paid, and like *Iacke drum, faire and orderly turned out of doores.

1608.  Topsell, Serpents (1658), 780. They made no more adoe but gave her Jack-drummes entertainment, thrusting her [the Spider] out of doors by the head and shoulders.

1649.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Wand. to West, 16. The Hostes being very willing to give the courteous entertainement of Jack Drum, commanded me very kindely to get me out of dores.

1627.  Bp. Wren, Serm., 17. Be *Iack-fellow, sit still, or be covered.

1597.  1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., V. i. 1397. The divell of the musition is he acquainted with but onlye *Iacke fidler.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Miller’s T., 522. Go fro the wyndow, *Iakke fool she sayde.

1826.  Sporting Mag., XVII. 376. *Jack Frost, however, put a veto on our morning’s sport.

1872.  C. Hardwick, Trad. Lancash., 53. The blustering of old Boreas, and the frigid embrace of ‘Jack Frost.’

1667.  Answ. Quest. out of North, 13. What, Sir, do you think that it is fit for every *Jack-Gentleman to speak thus to a Bishop?

1710.  Answ. Sacheverell’s Serm., 9. They despised the Gentry at such a rate, that it was a common thing to call them Jack Gentleman.

1787.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ode upon Ode, Wks. 1812, I. 443. Yet men there are (how strange are Love’s decrees!) Whose palates even *Jack-gentlewomen please.

1568.  Skinner, trans. Montanus’ Inquis., 24 a. As well *Iacke Iayler, as my Lord Judge.

a. 1689.  Bp. Ward, in W. Pope, Life (1697), 47. I met some *Jack Lords going into my Grove, but I think I have nettled them.

c. 1584.  Robin Conscience, 49, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 229. To keepe open hovse for euery *Jack lovt.

1477–8.  Bk. Curtesye (Caxton), 491. Playe not *Iack malapert [Oriel MS. Iakke malaperte], that is to saye Beware of presumpcion.

c. 1530.  H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk., 80. Then will all your Elders thinke you be with him *Iack mate.

1602.  Withal’s Dict., 263/1. A *Iacke-medler, or busie-body, in euerie mans matter, ardelio.

a. 1563.  Bale, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. xii. 114. He plays *jack monkey at the altar, with his turns and half-turns.

1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iii. 67. The idea of equality or inequality … doesn’t [enter their heads] till it’s put there by *Jack Nastys or fine ladies’ maids.

1550.  Bale, Apol., 28. He playeth the part of *Iack Nitigo, as y^e saying is, he seith but he wyll not se, or els that he seyeth a smal moate & letteth the great beame passe by.

1749.  Capt. Standige, in Naval Chron., III. 205. We experienced … uncommonly severe *jack northwesters.

1708.  Yorkshire-Racers, 14. *Jack Presbyter can cry, God save the King.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 123. By gar, I vill kill de *Iack-Priest.

c. 1550.  Bk. Robin Conscience, 240, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 242. *Jack savce … thov lovt, thov hoddie peake.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., IV. vii. 148. His reputation is as arrant a villaine and a Iacke sawce, as euer his blacke shoo trodd vpon Gods ground.

1702.  Vanbrugh, False Friend, III. ii. Why how now, Jack-sauce? why, how now, Presumption?

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., II. i. 22. Euery *Iacke-Slaue hath his belly full of Fighting.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 312. I should make myself full amends of *Jack Spaniard.

c. 1570.  Marr. Wit & Science, IV. i. in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 357. Heard you ever such a counsel of such a *Jack sprat?

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack-sprat, a Dwarf, or very little Fellow, a Hop-on-my-thumb. [Nursery Rhyme, Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean.]

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 853/2. Howe many *iacke sticklers are there nowe adayes … which … will needes shewe them selues to be somwhat by mouing troubles?

1643.  Horn & Robotham, Gate Lang. Unl., lxxxv. § 837. A prying medler (busie-body, jack-stickler) crouds in and intrudeth … where it nothing concernes him.

  36.  Substantive phrases with specific senses. Jack among the maids, a gallant, a ladies’ man; Jack at a pinch (see quots.); † Jack-hold-my-staff, a servile attendant; Jack in office, ‘a consequential petty official’ (Davies); also attrib. (cf. Jack out of office); Jack in the low cellar, a rendering of Du. Hans-in-kelder (see HANS), an unborn child; Jack in the water (see quot. 1873); Jack of (at) all trades, a man who can turn his hand to any kind (or to many kinds) of work or business; also rarely Jack of all work(s; Jack of (on, o’) both sides, a person who sides first with one party and then with the other, a trimmer; † Jack of Dover, name of some dish, ‘probably a pie that had been cooked more than once’ (Skeat); Jack of straw, a figure of a man made of straw (cf. JACKSTRAW 1); † Jack of the clock or clock-house (also Jackaclock, quot. 1689) = sense 6; also transf. applied to a person (see quots.); Jack of the dust, ‘a man on board a United States man-of-war appointed to assist the paymaster’s yeoman in serving out provisions and other stores’ (Cent. Dict.); † Jack-o’-the-green (see quot.); † Jack out of doors, a person turned out of his former place; a homeless person, a vagrant; † Jack out of office, a person who has been dismissed from his office; one whose ‘occupation is gone’ (also rarely † Jack out of service); † Jack-o’-wisp, a will-o’-the-wisp; transf. a giddy or flighty person; Jack’s alive (Sc.), a kind of game (see quot. 1825); transf. a lively run round (quot. 1894). See also JACK-A-LENT, JACK-IN-THE-BOX, JACK-IN-THE-GREEN, JACK-O’-LANTERN.

1785.  Trusler, Mod. Times, I. 160. The Mayor … was a pleasant man, and *Jack among the maids.

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 130. When there was neede of my seruice … I was seldome or neuer wanting; I was *Iacke at a pinch.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Jack at a Pinch, a poor Hackney Parson.

1883.  Mrs. Whitcher, Widow Bedott Papers, ii. Miss Coon … knows that the Major took her [to wife] ‘Jack at a pinch’—seein’ he couldent get such as he wanted, he took such as he could get.

1625.  Bp. Mountagu, App. Cæsar., II. xvi. 217. As if … the man [were not] to bee made any more account of than *Iack hold my staffe, by these Rabbies.

1678.  Mrs. Behn, Sir Patient Fancy, V. 90. Madam, in plain English I am made a John A-Nokes of, Jack-hold-my-staff, a Merry Andrew Doctor to give Leander time to marry your Daughter.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Jack in an Office, of one that behaves himself Imperiously in it.

a. 1819.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Advice Future Laureat, II. I hate a Jack-in-office martinet.

1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, xviii. A Jack-in-office, sir, and a very insolent fellow.

1887.  Besant, The World went, etc. xiii. The clerks … gave this young officer … as much trouble as Jacks-in-office possibly can.

1751.  Smollett, Per. Pick., x. When his companions drank to the Hans en kelderr, or *Jack in the low cellar, he could not help displaying an extraordinary complacence of countenance.

1836–7.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, vii. *Jack-in-the-water.

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 66/1. The lads, who act as jacks-in-the-water, were busy feeling in the mud for the fish that had fallen over board.

1873.  Slang Dict., Jack-in-the-water, an attendant at the watermen’s stairs on the river and sea-port towns, who does not mind wetting his feet for a customer’s convenience, in consideration of a douceur.

1618.  Mynshul, Ess. Prison, 24. Some broken Cittizen, who hath plaid *Iack of all trades.

1651.  Cleveland, Poems, 22. Thus Jack-of-all-trades hath devoutly showne The twelve Apostles on a Cherry-stone.

1687.  M. Clifford, Notes Dryden, i. 3. Your Writings are like a Jack of all Trades Shop, they have Variety, but nothing of value.

1770.  Gentl. Mag., XL. 61. Jack at all trades, is seldom good at any.

1813.  Scott, Lett. to Joanna Baillie, 21 March, in Lockhart. Being a complete jack-of-all-trades, from the carpenter to the shepherd, nothing comes strange to him.

1820.  Sporting Mag., VI. 159. My Jack of all works, who, by the by, is a universal gallant.

1878.  S. Walpole, Hist. Eng., I. 311. It would be unfair to say of Lord Brougham that he was ‘Jack of all trades and master of none.’

1562.  (title) A Godly and necessary Admonition concernyng Neutres, such as deserve the grosse name of *Iacke of both sydes.

1580.  G. Harvey, in Spenser’s Wks. (Grosart), I. 40. Claw-backes and Pickethanks: Jackes of bothe sides.

1656.  Earl Monm., Advt. fr. Parnass., 338. That he hath won this universal good will by the vice of playing Jack of both sides.

1759.  Dilworth, Pope, 59. That he was a papist, a jack o’ both sides.

1853.  Reade, Chr. Johnstone, xv. ‘Are you ready, gentlemen?’ said this Jack-o’-both-sides.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Cook’s Prol., 23. Many a *Iakke of Douere hastow soold That hath been twies hoot and twies coold.

1621.  Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, III. i. Wks. (Rtldg.), 551/1. I … would be married sooner to a monkey, Or to a *Jack of Straw, than such a juggler.

1563.  Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 114. For mendinge the chymes … and *jake of the clockehouse.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 60. While I stand fooling heere, his iacke o’ th’ Clocke.

1661.  Cowley, Verses & Ess., Cromwell (1669), 66. A Man, like that which we call Jack of the Clock-house, striking as it were, the hour of that fulness of time.

1689.  Diary, in Topographer (1790), 32. A new bell made for the Jackaclock at Gosford Gate.

1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past. (1810), III. ii. 150.

1827.  Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 577. Formerly a pleasant character dressed out with ribands and flowers, figured in village May-games under the name of *Jack-o’-the-Green…. A Jack-o’-the-Green always carried a long walking stick with floral wreaths.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, I. vi. (1632), 13. At his returne [he] found the Towne taken, and himself *jack-out-of-doores [sa place saisie].

1616.  Withal’s Dict., 569. Not altogether Iack out of doores, and yet no gentleman.

1553.  Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 159. Doth not this ceremony make Christ *Iacke out of office?

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 1031/1. They challenge such a power to them selues, that Iesus Christe is iacke out of office with them.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. i. 175. For me nothing remaines: But long I will not be Iack out of office.

1668.  R. L’Estrange, Vis. Quev. (1708), 65. We should be but so many Jacks out of Office.

1540.  Coverdale, Confut. Standish (1547), I vj. Gods good worde must weere the papyre and be *iack out of seruyce from other men.

1896.  Catholic Mag., July, 4. If she had been a *Jack-o’-wisp, in her young days … would Lady Mary have chosen her?

1825–80.  Jamieson, *Jack’s alive, a kind of sport. A piece of [lighted] paper or match is handed round a circle, he who takes hold saying, ‘Jack’s alive, he’se no die in my hand.’ He, in whose hand it dies or is extinguished, forfeits a wad.

1894.  Astley, Fifty Years Life, II. 8. He gave her [a mare] ‘Jack’s alive’ round the field.

  37.  In names of animals (sometimes signifying male, sometimes small, half-sized). a. Denoting the male of certain animals, as jack-ape, -hare; esp. of falcons, as jack-hobby, -kestrel, -merlin. See also JACKASS. b. Jack crow, a name for Picathartes gymnocephalus, a West African corvine bird; Jack curlew, name for two small species of curlew: (a) the Whimbrel, Numenius phæopus; (b) the N. hudsonicus of North America; Jack-fish, a name for the pike; also for Caranx pisquetos and other carangoid fishes (see 30 a, b); Jack-in-a-bottle, a name for the long-tailed titmouse, also called bottle-tit, from the shape of its nest; Jack-salmon, a fish of the genus Stizostedium, a pike-perch (Cent. Dict.); Jack-saw, a name for the Goosander (Mergus merganser), ‘from its saw-like bill’ (Swainson, Prov. Names Birds (1885), 163); Jack-spaniard, a large species of wasp found in the West Indies. See also JACKDAW, JACK-RABBIT, JACK-SNIPE.

1829.  Blackw. Mag., XXVI. 636. That extreme ‘facial development,’ which imparts it seems to the countenance of several of her ladyship’s friends, the character of *jack-apes.

1897.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 23. One of the chief features of Free Town are the *jack crows.

1866.  Montagu, Dict. Birds, s.v. Wimbrel, The Whimbrel has … in some parts … obtained the name of *Jack Curlew, from a supposition that it is the male of that bird.

1884.  Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 645. Numenius hudsonicus (Of Hudson’s Bay), Hudsonian Curlew, Jack Curlew.

1847.  Lytton, Lucretia, 32. A worthy object … which might well detain you from roach and *Jack-fish.

1887.  J. Cummins, Hints Anglers. If … Trout are well on the feed they will take the male or *‘Jack’ flies readily.

1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, III. vi. Swearing it was the largest *jack-hare he ever saw.

1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 31. British Long-tailed Titmouse … *Jack in a bottle.

1616.  Surflet & Markh., Country Farme, 712. Of Merlins there are both male and female, the male is called *Iack-merlin.

1843.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (ed. 6), II. 80. The *Jack-spaniard may be called the wasp of the West Indies, it is twice as large as a British wasp.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! II. ix. 253. Sitting on the sandy turf, defiant of galliwasps and jack-spaniards.

  38.  In popular names of plants. Sometimes with the sense ‘Dwarf, undersized,’ as jack bush, Jack oak; Jack-at-the-hedge, local name in Ireland for Goose-grass or Clivers (Britten & Holland, Appendix); Jack-by-the-hedge (also † -of-the-hedge, -in-the-hedge), the Hedge-garlic, Sisymbrium Alliaria; also locally applied to Lychnis diurna, Tragopogon pratensis, and Linaria minor (Br. & Holl.); Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, Ornithogalum umbellatum and Tragopogon pratensis (the latter also called simply Go-to-bed-at-noon); Jack-in-the-bush, local name for Hedge-garlic; Jack-in-the-pulpit (U.S.), a North American araceous plant, Arisæma triphyllum, so called from the appearance of the upright spadix partly surmounted by the inclosing spathe; Jack-jump-about, local name for Angelica sylvestris, Ægopodium Podægraria, and Lotus corniculatus (Br. & Holl.); Jack oak, a North American species of oak (Quercus nigra); also called black jack; Jack of the buttery, an old name for Stonecrop, Sedum acre; also called Creeping Jack. See also JACK-IN-THE-BOX 8, JAOK-IN-THE-GREEN 2.

1812.  J. Cutler, Topogr. Descr. Ohio, 96. The land in this distance is mostly clothed with *jack bushes and tall woods.

1536.  Turner, Libellus, A ij a. Alliaria,… *Iak of the hedge.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 639. In Englishe Sauce alone, and Iacke by the hedge.

1866.  Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxv. 627. Jack by the Hedge, or Sauce Alone … was a favourite condiment.

1875.  Sussex Gloss., Jack-in-the-hedge, Lychnis diurna.

1884.  Mary E. Wilkins, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 788/1. It would have been like looking at a *jack-in-the-pulpit.

1894.  W. H. Gibson, Ibid. March, 565/1. Our well-known jack-in-the-pulpit, or Indian-turnip, with its purple-streaked canopy and sleek ‘preacher’ standing erect beneath it.

1821.  J. Fowler, Jrnl. (1898), 15. The timber in the bottoms is a kind of *Jack oak and very low Cotton Wood.

1599.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxlv. (1633), 518. Stone crop,… Wall pepper, Countrey pepper, and *Jacke of the Butteries.