[f. JACK sb.1 37 b + DAW.
Formerly stressed jack-daw· (in J. 1755, Walker 1791, Todd 1818; still in Scotl.) Ash 1775 has Ja·ckdaw.]
1. The common name of the DAW (Corvus monedula), one of the smallest of the crow family, which frequents old buildings, church towers, etc.; it is easily tamed and taught to imitate the sound of words, and is noted for its loquacity and thievish propensities.
1543. Bale, Course Rom. Foxe, 87. Not all vnlyke vnto Isopes choughe, whom we commonlye call Iacke dawe.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 223. Some cackles like a Henne, or a Iacke Dawe.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. X. xxix. 285. Choughes and iack dawes: the veriest theeves … especially for silver and gold.
1672. R. Wild, Poet. Licent., 32. And may the Jack-daws still the Steeples hold.
1769. G. White, Selborne, xxii. (1875), 75. Jackdaws building with us under the ground in rabbit-burrows.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Jackd. Rheims, 12. In and out Through the motley rout That little Jackdaw kept hopping about.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 283. The jackdaw … could not keep silence to save his life, but must talk after his fashion.
b. A species of grackle or ‘blackbird’ (Quiscalus major) of the Southern United States.
1884. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 412. Boat-tailed Grackle, Jackdaw. Of large size, with long, much keeled and graduated tail.
2. fig. Applied contemptuously to a loquacious person.
1605. Tryall Chev., II. i. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1884), III. 289. Bowyer a Captayne?… a very Jackdaw with his toung slit.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, I. 6. With City-Jack-daws; That make Staple-Laws, To measure by Yards and Ells.
3. attrib. and Comb., in reference to the Fable of the Jackdaw decked out with peacock’s feathers, or to the furtive and secretive habits of the bird.
1739. Melmoth, Fitzosb. Lett. (1763), 49. Jack-daw poets with their stolen feathers.
1890. Athenæum, 19 April, 498/2. In the Bodleian Library, where they now rest, thanks to the jackdaw-like propensities of Mr. Secretary Pepys.
