jack

¹

[ jak ]

noun

1. any of various portable devices for raising or lifting heavy objects short heights, using various mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic methods.
2. Also called knave. Cards. a playing card bearing the picture of a soldier or servant.
3. Electricity. a connecting device in an electrical circuit designed for the insertion of a plug.
4. Jack, Informal. fellow; buddy; man (usually used in addressing a stranger):

   Hey, Jack, which way to Jersey?

5. Also called jackstone. Games.
   1. one of a set of small metal objects having six prongs, used in the game of jacks.
   2. one of any other set of objects, as pebbles, stones, etc., used in the game of jacks.
   3. jacks, (used with a singular verb) a children's game in which small metal objects, stones, pebbles, or the like, are tossed, caught, and moved on the ground in a number of prescribed ways, usually while bouncing a rubber ball.
6. any of several carangid fishes, especially of the genus Caranx, as C. hippos crevalle jack, or jack crevalle, of the western Atlantic Ocean.
7. Slang. money:

   He won a lot of jack at the races.

8. Slang: Vulgar. jack shit.
9. Nautical.
   1. a small flag flown at the jack staff of a ship, bearing a distinctive design usually symbolizing the nationality of the vessel.
   2. Also called jack crosstree. either of a pair of crosstrees at the head of a topgallant mast, used to hold royal shrouds away from the mast.
10. Jack, a sailor.
11. lumberjack ( def 1 ).
12. applejack.
13. jack rabbit.
14. jackass ( def 1 ).
15. jacklight.
16. a device for turning a spit.
17. a small wooden rod in the mechanism of a harpsichord, spinet, or virginal that rises when the key is depressed and causes the attached plectrum to strike the string.
18. Lawn Bowling. a small, usually white bowl or ball used as a mark for the bowlers to aim at.
19. Also called clock jack. Horology. a mechanical figure that strikes a clock bell.
20. a premigratory young male salmon.
21. Theater. brace jack.
22. Falconry. the male of a kestrel, hobby, or especially of a merlin.

verb (used with object)

1. to lift or move (something) with or as if with a jack (usually followed by up ):

   to jack a car up to change a flat tire.

2. Informal. to increase, raise, or accelerate (prices, wages, speed, etc.) (usually followed by up ).
3. Informal. to boost the morale of; encourage (usually followed by up ).
4. Slang. to mess up, ruin, or injure (usually followed by up ): I jacked my shoulder when I fell.

   The paint job was all jacked up.

   I jacked my shoulder when I fell.

5. to jacklight.

verb (used without object)

1. to jacklight.

adjective

1. Carpentry. having a height or length less than that of most of the others in a structure; cripple:

   jack rafter; jack truss.

verb phrase

1. Slang: Vulgar. to masturbate.
2. Slang. to give oneself an injection of a controlled substance:

   After 30 heroin-free days, he was let out for the afternoon and came straight to my door, begging to jack up.

jack

²

[ jak ]

verb (used with object)

, Slang.

1. to steal: Hackers jacked my email account in a phishing scam.

   Some neighborhood kids jacked her car and took it for a joyride.

   Hackers jacked my email account in a phishing scam.

2. to rob:

   He got jacked on his way home from the club.

jack

³

[ jak ]

noun

1. jackfruit.

jack

⁴

[ jak ]

noun

1. a defensive coat, usually of leather, worn in medieval times by foot soldiers and others.
2. a container for liquor, originally of waxed leather coated with tar.

Jack

⁵

[ jak ]

noun

1. a male given name, form of Jacob or John.

jack

¹

/ dʒæk /

noun

1. See jackfruit
   short for jackfruit

Jack

²

/ dʒæk /

noun

1. I'm all right, Jack informal.
   I'm all right, Jack
   1. a remark indicating smug and complacent selfishness
   2. ( as modifier )

      an ``I'm all right, Jack'' attitude

jack

³

/ dʒæk /

noun

1. a short sleeveless coat of armour of the Middle Ages, consisting usually of a canvas base with metal plates
2. archaic.
   a drinking vessel, often of leather

jack

⁴

/ dʒæk /

noun

1. a man or fellow
2. a sailor
3. the male of certain animals, esp of the ass or donkey
4. a mechanical or hydraulic device for exerting a large force, esp to raise a heavy weight such as a motor vehicle
5. any of several mechanical devices that replace manpower, such as a contrivance for rotating meat on a spit
6. one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a young prince; knave
7. bowls a small usually white bowl at which the players aim with their own bowls
8. electrical engineering a female socket with two or more terminals designed to receive a male plug ( jack plug ) that either makes or breaks the circuit or circuits
9. See Union Jack
   a flag, esp a small flag flown at the bow of a ship indicating the ship's nationality Compare Union Jack
10. nautical either of a pair of crosstrees at the head of a topgallant mast used as standoffs for the royal shrouds
11. a part of the action of a harpsichord, consisting of a fork-shaped device on the end of a pivoted lever on which a plectrum is mounted
12. any of various tropical and subtropical carangid fishes, esp those of the genus Caranx, such as C. hippos ( crevalle jack )
13. Also calledjackstone one of the pieces used in the game of jacks
14. See lumberjack, jack rabbit, jackfish, jackass, bootjack, applejack
    short for applejack bootjack jackass jackfish jack rabbit lumberjack
15. See money
    a slang word for money
16. every man jack
    every man jack everyone without exception
17. the jack slang.
    the jack venereal disease

adjective

1. jack of slang.
   jack of tired or fed up with (something)

verb

1. to lift or push (an object) with a jack
2. electrical engineering to connect (an electronic device) with another by means of a jack and a jack plug
3. Alsojacklight to hunt (fish or game) by seeking them out or dazzling them with a flashlight

Word History and Origins

Origin of jack¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English jakke, Jakke used in addressing any male, especially a social inferior, variant of Jakken, variant of Jankin, equivalent to Jan “John” + -kin diminutive suffix; extended in sense to anything male, and as a designation for a variety of inanimate objects; John, -kin

Origin of jack²

First recorded in 1930–35; shortening of hijack ( def )

Origin of jack³

First recorded in 1605–15; from Portuguese jaca, from Malayalam cakka

Origin of jack⁴

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English jakke, from Middle French jaque(s), “short, plain upper garment,” probably after jacques “peasant” ( Jacquerie )

Word History and Origins

Origin of jack¹

C17: from Portuguese jaca ; see jackfruit

Origin of jack²

C14: from Old French jaque , of uncertain origin

Origin of jack³

C16 jakke , variant of Jankin , diminutive of John

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. every man jack, everyone without exception:

   They presented a formidable opposition, every man jack of them.

More idioms and phrases containing jack

• before you can say Jack Robinson

Example Sentences

Philip drove west to the shore of fingerlike Tomales Bay, where they lunched on abalone and a smorgasbord that included the local Jack cheese and even more Teleme.

From Eater

To our Jack—I’m so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn’t give you the home you needed to survive.

From Fortune

The details were laid out in a congressional drug pricing investigation published Wednesday, which concluded that prices were jacked up to hit revenue goals for shareholders and thus score bonuses for Alles and others.

From Washington Post

Ken Look, club sports athletic trainer at Stanford University, doesn’t recommend jumping jacks for general fitness warmups until you’ve been exercising regularly for about two weeks.

From Popular-Science

Meanwhile, Murray has jacked up 44 of these shots throughout the playoffs.

From FiveThirtyEight

Starting in the 1970s, then MPAA president Jack Valenti began what was to become a decades-long fight against the quota system.

From The Daily Beast

Heinold's First and Last Chance, Oakland (Jack London, Taft) You can thank Johnny Heinold for your favorite Jack London book.

From The Daily Beast

But not even the threat of death can suppress the urge to live vicariously through Jack Dawson and James Bond.

From The Daily Beast

As I size up the scene, Jack White now wears the crown … and he wears it well.

From The Daily Beast

Nets guard Jarrett Jack claimed credit for the shirts LeBron James and several other players were seen in before the game.

From The Daily Beast

Strathland would bundle me out in ten minutes if anything happened to Jack.

From Project Gutenberg

She is immensely rich, one of the ablest political women in London, and Jack is desperately in love with her.

From Project Gutenberg

How on earth can Jack find time to think about women with the immense amount of work he gets through?

From Project Gutenberg

No, Jack is not much to look at, except when he wakes up—I have seen him quite transfigured on the platform.

From Project Gutenberg

Little Jack Charmington, her husband, had a snug four hundred a year of his own, which quite sufficed for his modest needs.

From Project Gutenberg