jack-tar
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of jack-tar
First recorded in 1775–85
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not many days are required to restore Shiloh to his best blithe spirits and make of him an astonishingly tough and adept jack-tar.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Somehow it has come to be supposed or assumed that a jack-tar cannot ride.
From Charlie to the Rescue by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
A jolly jack-tar, having strayed into Atkin's show at Bartholomew Fair, to have a look at the wild beasts, was much struck with the sight of a lion and a tiger in the same den.
From Heads and Tales : or, Anecdotes and Stories of Quadrupeds and Other Beasts, Chiefly Connected with Incidents in the Histories of More or Less Distinguished Men. by White, Adam
Whatever became of the men from the British trawler he never knew, but his jack-tar companions were with him still and helped to keep up his spirits.
From Tom Slade on a Transport by Clarity, Thomas
It takes the British jack-tar to put the kibosh on this pirate game.
From Great Pirate Stories by French, Joseph Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.