or gincrack, jimcrack, subs. (old).—1. A showy simpleton, male or female; a DANDY (q.v.).
1618. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Loyal Subject, iv., 3. These are fine GIMCRACKS; hey, here comes another, a flagon full of wine in his hand.
1637. FLETCHER, The Elder Brother, iii., 3.
| You are a handsome and a sweet young lady, | |
| And ought to have a handsome man yoked to ye. | |
| An understanding too; this is a GIMCRACK | |
| That can get nothing but new fashions on you. |
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew. GIMCRACK, a spruce wench.
1706. CENTLIVRE, The Basset-table, II., Works (1872), i., 122. The philosophical GIMCRACK.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
2. (colloquial).—A showy trifle; anything pretty to look at but of very little worth.
1632. CHAPMAN and SHIRLEY, The Ball, Act iv. Luc. There remains to take away one sample. Col. Another GIMCRACK?
1678. BUTLER, Hudibras, III., i., 107.
| Had rifled all his pokes and fobs | |
| Of GIMCRACKS, whims, and jiggumbobs. |
1698–1700. WARD, The London Spy, pt. 7, p. 148. I suppose there being little else to lose except scenes, machines, or some such JIM-CRACKS.
1843. THACKERAY, The Irish Sketch-Book, ch. i. There was the harp of Brian Boru, and the sword of some one else, and other cheap old GIMCRACKS with their corollary of lies.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 63. Such rum-looking GIMCRACKS, my pippin.
3. (provincial).—A handy man; a JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES (q.v.).
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. A GIMCRACK also means a person who has a turn for mechanical contrivances.
4. (venery).—The female pudendum. [A play on sense 2, and CRACK, (q.v.).] For synonym, see MONOSYLLABLE.
Adj. (colloquial).—Trivial; showy; worthless.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ch. ix. No shops so beautiful to look at as the Brighton GIMCRACK shops, and the fruit shops, and the market.
1891. W. C. RUSSELL, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 30. Soberly clothed with nothing more GIMCRACK in the way of finery upon him than a row of waistcoat-buttons.
1892. Tit-Bits, 19 March, p. 425, c. 2. A large cabinet or wardrobe, beautifully carved, and very substantial, no GIMCRACK work.
