Jack-a-green. See Jack-in-the-green under Jack.
Jack-a-lent, subs. (old).—1. A dapperling; a dwarf; and (2) a
simpleton: also Jack-o’-lent.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, iii. 3. You little jack-a-lent, have
you been true to us?
1596. Nashe, Have with You etc. in Works [Grosart, 1882–3, iii.
78]. For his stature he is such another pretie jack-a-lent.
1602. Cooke, How to Choose a Good Wife [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874),
ix. 41]. That jack-a-lent, that ghost, that shadow, that moon in
the wane.
Jackanapes, subs. (old colloquial).—An absurd fop; a whipper-snapper: a
general term of reproach. Jackanapes-coat = a dandy-coat (Pepys).
[Originally, no doubt, a gaudy-suited and performing ape (the word is
still good Scots for a monkey; cf. Scott, Redgauntlet); and, hence, by
implication anybody at once ugly (or diminutive), showy, and impudent.
Also a Jack-of-apes was a man who exhibited performing apes].
d. 1529. Skelton, Poems, p. 160. He grins and he gapes, As it were
Jack Napes.
1543. Bale, Romish Foxe, fol. 92. He played jack-a-napes swearynge
by his tenne bones.
1567. Edwards, Damon and Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv.
60]. Away, jackanapes, else I will col’phise you by and by.
c. 1590–1600. Alex Montgomerie, Sonnets [ed. Irving, 1821] p. 97.
Blind brutal Boy, that with thy bou abuses Leill leisome Love by
Lechery and Lust, Judge, Jakanapis and Jougler maist unjust &c.
1596. Nashe, Have with You etc. in Works [Grosart, iii. 156].
Common marks for every jackanapes preacher to kick, spit, or throw
dirt at.
1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well &c., iii. 5. That jackanapes with
scarfs.
b. 1602. Lingua [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 390]. This
Invention is the proudest jackanapes ... that ever breathed.
1604. Marston & Webster, Malcontent, i. 3. Sir Tristam Tristam come
aloft, jacke-a-napes, with a whim-wham.
1612–13. Tailor, Hog hath Lost his Pearl, ii. Malapert, my father’s
butler, being a witty jackanapes, told me why it was.
1639. Glapthorne, Argalus and Parthenia, in Wks. (1874), i. 38.
Ladies shall beat thee to death ... thou jackanapes.
1653. Brome, Five New Plays, 200. Thou art a jackanapes of the
basest tricks that ever I saw for a halfpenny.
1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Wks. (1725), p. 180. Transformed
myself (my pretty knave) Into these Man and Eagle’s shapes, To snap
my little jack-a-napes.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Jackanapes, a Term of Reproach,
a little sorry Whipper-snapper.
1712. Spectator, No. 311. I have myself caught a young jackanapes,
with a pair of silver-fringed gloves, in the very fact.
1752. Foote, Taste (5th ed.) 33. Saucy jackanapes.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, ii. 1. Nome of your sneering, puppy! no
grinning, jackanapes!
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Jackanapes ... a pert ugly little
fellow.
Jackaroo, subs. (Australian).—A fresh arrival from England: a new chum
(q.v.).
1887. Chamber’s Journal, 23 April, 262. The Jackaroo ... is the
invariable local name, or rather nickname, given to those young men
who are sent out to the Australian colonies from almost every part
of the United Kingdom in order to learn sheep or
cattle-farming—generally the former—as carried on at the Antipodes.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush Life, i. 53. The young jackaroo woke early
next morning, and went to look around him.
1889. E. W. Hornung, in London Society Holiday No ‘Bushed’. I had
been in the colony but a few months, and was engaged as
jackeroo—that is, apprentice to ‘colonial experience’.
Jackass, subs. (colloquial).—A stupid ignoramus. For synonyms see
Buffle, and Cabbage-head. Also jackassism = stupidity.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II, 268. Calling names, whether
done to attack or to tack a schism, Is, Miss, believe me, a great
piece of jack-ass-ism.
Jackass-frigate, subs. (nautical).—A small slow-sailing frigate.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, xiii. He recommended me to the Captain
of a jackass-frigate ... so called because there is as much
difference between them and a real frigate ... as there is between
a donkey and a race-horse.
Jack-Cove, subs. phr. (American thieves’).—A mean low fellow; a snide
(q.v.).—Matsell (1859).
Jack (or Tom) Drum’s Entertainment, subs. phr. (old).—Ill-treatment;
ignominious dismissal: cf. Stafford Law.
1579. Gosson, Schoole of Abuse, 22 (Arber’s ed.). Plato when he
sawe the doctrine of these Teachers, neither for profite,
necessary, nor to be wished for pleasure, gave them all Drummes
entertainment, not suffering them once to shew their faces in a
reformed common wealth.
1587. Holinshead, Hist. of Ireland. B. ii. col. i. cit. cap. His
porter or other officer durst not for both his ears give the
simplest man that resorted to his house, Tom Drum’s entertainment,
which is, to hale a man in by the head, and thrust him out by both
the shoulders.
1592. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit, in Works, xii, 129. And so giving
him Jacke Drums entertainment, shut him out of doores.
1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in Wks. v. 26. I would give him Jacke
Drummes entertainment, and send him packing.
1598. Shakespeare, All’s Well, iii, 6. 41. If you give him not John
Drum’s entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Festin. Il a esté au festin de
Martin Baston. He hath had a tryall in Stafford Court, or hath
received Jacke Drum’s entertainment.
1611. T. Coryat, Extracts &c. [1776] iii. C. c. 3. Not like the
entertainment of Jacke Drum, Who was best welcome when he went
away.
1626. Apollo Shroving [quoted by Nares]. It shall have Tom Drum’s
entertainment, a flap with a fox-tail.
1649. John Taylor, Wandering to see the Wonders of the West. Where
the hostess being very willing to give me the courteous
entertainment of Jack Drum, commanded me very civilly to get out of
doors, for there was no room for me to lodge in.
Jacked, adj. (old).—Spavined; lamed.
Jackeen (or Dublin Jackeen), subs. (Irish).—A Dublin ’Arry (q.v.).
[From Jack + een, a suffix expressive of contempt or inferiority; a
diminutive].
1894. De Somerville & Ross, The Real Charlotte, iii. 246. Don’t you
remember what Mr. Baker said about me, ‘that you couldn’t expect
any manners from a Dublin Jackeen.’
Jacken-closer, subs. (old).—A seal.
1825. Modern Flash Dict., s.v.
Jackeries, subs. (Australian).—See quot.
1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up, p. 123. The jackeries, i.e., favored
station hands, cursed him.
Jacket, subs. (colloquial).—1. The skin of an unpared potato: generally
in phrase ‘boiled in their jackets’.
1878. R. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 58. Some potatoes in their
jackets.