Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Jack.

Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Jack.

Ja’chin.

VIII. Jack.

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Jack.

I. APPLIED TO MEN, but always depreciatingly. (See TOM.)

(1) Jack Adams. A fool.

(2) Jack-a-dandy (q.v.).

(3) Jack-a-dreams. A man of inaction, a mere dreamer.

(4) Jack-a-drognes. A good-natured, lazy fool. (Dutch, druilen, to be listless; our drawl.)

(5) Jack-a-Lent. A half-starved, sheepish booby. Shakespeare says: “You little Jack-a-lent, have you been true to us?” (Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 3.)

A kind of Aunt Sally which was thrown at in Lent. (See Cleveland’s Poems [1660], p. 64.)

(6) Jack-a-napes (q.v.).

(7) Jack-at-a-pinch. One who lends a hand in an emergency; an itinerant clergyman who has no cure, but officiates for a fee in any church where his assistance is required.

(8) Jack Brag. (See BRAG.)

(9) Jack Fool. More generally, Tom Fool (q.v.).

(10) Jack Ketch (q.v.).

(11) Jack-pudding (q.v.).

(12) Jack-sauce. An insolent sauce-box, “the worst Jack of the pack.” Fluellen says one who challenges another and refuses to fight is a “Jack-sauce.” (Henry V., iv. 7.)

(13) Jack-snip. A botching tailor.

(14) Jack-slave. “Every Jack-slave hath his belly full of fighting.” (Shakespeare: Cymbeline, ii. 1.)

(15) Jack-sprat (q.v.).

(16) Jack-straw. A peasant rebel.

(17) Jack-tar (q.v.).

(18) Jack-in-office. A conceited official, or upstart, who presumes on his official appointment to give himself airs.

(19) Jack-in-the-green. A chimney-sweep boy in the midst of boughs, on May Day.

(20) Jack-in-the-water. An attendant at the waterman’s stairs, etc., willing to wet his feet, if needs be, for a “few coppers.”

(21) Jack-of-all-trades. One who can turn his hand to anything, but excels in nothing.

(22) Jack-of-both-sides. One who tries to favour two antagonistic parties, either from fear or for profit.

(23) Jack-out-of-office. “But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office.” (Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI., i. 1.).

(24) Cheap Jack. (See CHEAP.)

(25) Jack will never be a gentleman. A mere parvenu will never be like a well-bred gentleman.

(26) Every man-Jack of them. All without exception, even the most insignificant.

(27) Remember poor Jack. Throw a copper to the boys paddling about the jetty or pier, or performing tricks under the hope of getting a small bounty.

II. APPLIED TO BOYS WHO ACT THE PART OF MEN.

(1) Jack Frost. Frost personified as a mischievous boy.

(2) Jack Sprat. Who bears the same relation to a man as a sprat does to a mackerel or herring.

(3) Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme). Jill or Gill is a contraction of Julienne or Gillian, a common Norman name. (See JACK, VII.)

(4) Jack and the Bean-stalk (q.v.).

(5) Jack and the Fiddler (q.v.).

(6) Jack of cards. The Knave or boy of the king and queen of the same suit.

(7) Jack the Giant-killer (q.v.).

(8) Glym Jack. A link boy who carries a glym. (German, glimmen.) (See GLIM.)

(9) Little Jack Horner. (See JACK HORNER.)

(10) The house that Jack built (nursery tale).

III. APPLIED TO THE MALES OR INFERIOR ANIMALS: as—

Jack-ass, Jack-baker (a kind of owl), Jack or dog fox, Jack-hare, Jack-hern, Jack-rat, Jack-shark, Jack-snipe; a young pike is called a Jack, so also were the male birds used in falconry.

IV. APPLIED TO INSTRUMENTS which supply the place of or represent inferior men or boys:—

(1) A jack. Used instead of a turnspit boy, generally called Jack.

(2) A jack. Used for lifting heavy weights.

(3) Jack. The figure outside old public clocks made to strike the bell.

“Strike like Jack o’ the clock-house, never but in season.”—Strode: Floating Island.

(4) Jack-roll. The cylinder round which the rope of a well coils.

(5) Jack-in-the-basket. The cap or basket on the top of a pole to indicate the place of a sandbank at sea, etc.

(6) Jack-in-the-box. A toy consisting of a box out of which, when the lid is raised, a figure springs.

(7) Boot-jack. An instrument for drawing off boots, which used to be done by inferior servants.

(8) Bottle-jack. A machine for turning the roast instead of a turnspit.

(9) Lifting-jack. A machine for lifting the axle-tree of a carriage when the wheels are cleaned.

(10) Roasting-jack. (See Bottle-jack, 8.)

(11) Smoke-jack. An apparatus in a chimney-flue for turning a spit. It is made to revolve by the upward current of smoke and air.

(12) Jack-chain. A small chain for turning the spit of a smoke-jack.

V. APPLIED TO INFERIOR ARTICLES which bear the same relation to the thing imitated as Jack does to a gentleman.

(1) Jack. A rough stool or wooden horse for sawing timber on.

(2) Jack. A small drinking vessel made of waxed leather.

“Body of me, I am dry still; give me the jack, boy.”—Beaumont and Fletcher: Bloody Brother, ii. 2.

(3) Jack. Inferior kind of armour. (See JACK, No. VIII.)

(4) A Jack and a half-jack. Counters resembling a sovereign and a half-sovereign. Used at gaming-tables to make up a show of wealth.

(5) Jack-block. A block attached to the topgallant-tie of a ship.

(6) Jack-boots. Cumbrous boots of tough, thick leather worn by fishermen. Jacks or armour for the legs.

(7) Jack-pan. A vessel used by barbers for heating water for their customers.

(8) Jack-plane. A menial plane to do the rough work for finer instruments.

(9) Jack-rafter. A rafter in a hipped roof, shorter than a full-sized one.

(10) Jack-rib. An inferior rib in an arch, being shorter than the rest.

(11) Jack-screw. A large screw rotating in a threaded socket, used for lifting heavy weights.

(12) Jack-timbers. Timbers in a building shorter than the rest.

(13) Jack-towel. A coarse, long towel hung on a roller, for the servants’ use.

(14) Jack of Dover (q.v.).

(15) Jacket (q.v.).

(16) Black jack. A huge drinking vessel. A Frenchman speaking of it says, “The English drink out of their boots.” (Heywood.)

VI. A TERM OF CONTEMPT.

(1) Jack-a-lantern or Jack-o’-lantern, the fool fire (ignis fatuus).

(2) Jack-ass. An unmitigated fool.

(3) Jack-at-bowls. The butt of all the players.

(4) Jack-daw. A prating nuisance.

(5) Jack Drum’s entertainment (q.v.).

(6) Jackey. A monkey.

(7) Skip-jack. A toy, an upstart.

(8) The black jack. The turnip-fly.

(9) The yellow jack. The yellow fever.

VII. USED IN PROVERBIAL PHRASES.

¶ A good Jack makes a good Jill. A good husband makes a good wife, a good master makes a good servant. Jack, a generic name for man, husband, or master; and Gill or Jill, his wife or female servant.

Every Jack shall have his Jill. Every man may find a wife if he likes; or rather, every country rustic shall find a lass to be his mate.

“Jack shall have his Jill,

Nought shall go ill;

The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 2.

To play the Jack. To play the rogue or knave; to deceive or lead astray like Jack-o’-lantern, or ignis fatuus.

“——your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.”—Shakespeare: Tempest, iv. 1.

To be upon their jacks. To have the advantage over one. The reference is to the coat of mail quilted with stout leather, more recently called a jerkin.

Ja’chin.

VIII. Jack.

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