6. (old: now recognised).—A pitcher varying in capacity: generally made
of leather; a black-jack (q.v.).
1592. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii.
59]. Rise up Sir Robert Toss-pot. [Here he dubs Will Summer with
the black-jack.]
1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 207]. A
black-jack of beer and a Christmas pie.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. s.v. Jack.
7. (old).—A Jacobite. [In the quot. there is a punning reference to the
flag, sense 13].
1723. Swift, Elegy, on Judge Boat, [Works, Aldine ed. iii. 96].
With every wind he sailed, And well could tack; Had many pendents,
but abhorred a Jack.
8. (old).—A term of contempt. [The usage is common in most modern
languages: e.g. Fr. Jean-guêtré = peasant, Jean-bête = ‘cabbage-head’,
Jean-fesse or Jean-foutre = scamp; It. Gianni, whence Zany; Sp. Juan,
as bobo Juan = foolish John, &c.].
[See also many of the combinations following. To play the jack = to act
the fool (or goat (q.v.)); cheap jack = a peddling tradesman; jack-fool
(Chaucer) = a thundering idiot; jack-friar = a hedge-priest (q.v.);
jack-slave = a vulgarian; jack-brag = a boaster; jack-snip = a botching
tailor; jack-straw = a low-born rebel; jack-sprat = a mannikin;
skip-jack = an upstart; jack-at-warts = a little conceited fellow;
jack-in-the-box = the sacrament; jack-upaland (Chaucer) = a peasant].
1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales [Skeat (1894), p. 106]. ‘Go fro the
window, Jakke fool,’ she said.
1580. H. Gifford, Posie of Gilleflowers (Grosart 1875), ‘A
delectable dream’, p. 113. I know some pepper-nosed dame Will term
me fool and saucy Jack.
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, ii. A mad-cap ruffian, and a
swearing Jack, That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.
1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4. Nurse. An a’ speak any
thing against me, I’ll take him down, an a’ were lustier than he
is, and twenty such Jacks, and if I cannot, I’ll find those that
shall.
1596. Nashe, Have with You, Wks. [Grosart]. Teaching it to do
tricks, Hey come aloft, Jacke, like an ape over the chain.
1597–8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays
(1874), x. 496]. Some scoffing Jack had sent thee.... To tell a
feigned tale of happy luck.
1600. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in Works (Grosart, vi. 107). This
sawcie upstart Jacke That now doth rule the chariot of the sun.
1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 101].
Scurvy in thy face, thou scurvy Jack.
1607. Wilkins, Enforced Marriage [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix.
488]. Shall I be crossed by such a Jack.
1611. Davies, Scourge of Folly, Wks. (Grosart, p. 39, Epig. 282).
Such jocund Jacks as mock thee.
1621. Burton, Anat. of Mel., 291. A company of scoffers and proud
Jacks are commonly conversant and attendant in such places.
1636. T. Heywood, Love’s Mistress, i. They call her Queen of Love,
will know no other, And swear my Son shall kneel and call her
mother. Cup. But Cupid swears to make the jacks forsworn.
1647. Beaumont & Fletcher, Faithful Friend, i. 2. A company of
quarrelling Jacks.... They say they have been soldiers, and fall
out About their valours.
1653. Brome, Five New Plays, 403. The frumping Jacks are gone.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii. Wid. Marry come up, you saucy
familiar Jack!
1738. Swift, Polite Convers. Dial. 1. But, I swear, you are a saucy
Jack to use such expressions.
9. (gaming).—A counter resembling in size and appearance a sovereign.
Also half-jacks. See quot.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. etc. i. 387. They are all made in
Birmingham, and are of the size and colour of the genuine
sovereigns and half sovereigns.... Each presents a profile of the
Queen; but instead of the superscription ‘Victoria Dei Gratiâ’ of
the true sovereign, the jack has ‘Victoria Regina’. On the reverse,
in the place of the ‘Britanniarum Regina Fid. Def.’ surrounding the
royal arms and crown, is a device (intended for an imitation of St.
George and the Dragon) representing a soldier on horseback—the
horse having three legs elevated from the ground, while a drawn
sword fills the right hand of the equestrian, and a crown adorns
his head. The superscription is, ‘to Hanover,’ and the rider seems
to be sociably accompanied by a dragon. Round the Queen’s head on
the half jack is ‘Victoria, Queen of Great Britain,’ and on the
reverse the Prince of Wales’s feather, with the legend, ‘The Prince
of Wales’s Model Half Sovereign.’
10. (common).—(a) A sailor: also jack-tar, English-jack, and
Spanish-jack. (b) An attendant at a boat-house. Also Jack-in-the-water
(q.v.).
1788. C. Dibdin, Poor Jack, ‘Song’. There’s a sweet little Cherub
that sits up aloft, To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
1867. Cassell’s Family Paper, 23 Feb. The old brigadier ordered the
Jacks to storm.