jack

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English [edit]

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A jack (mechanical device)

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English jakke (“any mechanical device”), from the name Jack, from Old French Jacques

Noun [edit]

jack (plural jacks)

  1. A mechanical device used to raise and (temporarily) support a heavy object.
    She used a jack to lift her car and changed the tire.
  2. A man or men in general.
    Every man jack.
  3. A male animal.
  4. (card games) The card ranking between the ten and queen of any suit, picturing a knave or prince on its face. In some card games has a value of eleven based on its rank, but in many card games has a value of ten like the ten, queen, and king cards. Also called a knave.
  5. (archaic) A knave (a servant or later, a deceitful man).
    • 1799, THE SCOTS MAGAZINE OR GENERAL REPOSITORY OF LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS[1], page 171:
      Fly may signify a winged insect, or part of a Jack. Jack itself is sometimes a roaster of meat, and at others a contraction of John, a knave, a Japan mug, or an instrument to draw off boots.
  6. (zoology) A male ass.
  7. A surface-mounted connector for electrical, especially telecommunications, equipment.
    telephone jack
  8. (sports) A target ball in bowls, etc; a jack-ball.
  9. (games) A small, six-pointed playing piece used in the game of jacks.
  10. (colloquial) Nothing, jackshit.
    You haven't done jack. Get up and get this room cleaned up right now!
  11. (nautical) A small flag at the bow of a ship.
  12. (nautical) A naval ensign flag flown from the main mast, mizzen mast, or the aft-most major mast of (especially) British sailing warships; Union Jack.
  13. (military) A coarse and cheap medieval coat of defense, especially one made of leather.
    • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 15:
      The aketon, gambeson, vambasium, and jack were military vestments, calculated for the defence of the body, differing little from each other, except in their names, their materials and construction were nearly the same, the authorities quoted in the notes, shew they were all composed of many folds of linen, stuffed with cotton, wool or hair, quilted, and commonly covered with leather, made of buck or doe skin.
  14. (two-up) A penny with a head on both sides, used for cheating. (Reference: Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 243.)
  15. (slang) Money.
    • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, p. 133:
      First off Regan carried fifteen grand, packed it in his clothes all the time. Real money, they tell me. Not just a top card and a bunch of hay. That's a lot of jack [...].
  16. (slang, Appalachians) A smooth often ovoid large gravel or small cobble in a natural water course.
  17. A common name for the freshwater pike, green pike or pickerel.
  18. Large California rockfish.
  19. An order of marine fish in the Carangidae family.
  20. (obsolete, nautical) A sailor; a "jack tar".
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
terms derived from jack (noun)
See also [edit]
Translations [edit]
device for raising and supporting a heavy object
man or men in general
male animal
playing card
knave — see knave
male ass
surface mounted connector
target ball in bowls
small, six-pointed playing piece used in the game of jacks
slang: nothing — see jackshit
nautical: small flag at bow of ship
nautical: naval ensign
military: coarse medieval coat of defense
false coin used for cheating
slang: money
large gravel or small cobble in a natural water course
freshwater pike — see pike
large California rockfish — see rockfish
fish in the Carangidae family
nautical: sailor — see jacktar

Verb [edit]

jack (third-person singular simple present jacks, present participle jacking, simple past and past participle jacked)

  1. (transitive) To use a jack.
    He jacked the car up so that he could replace the brake pads.
  2. (transitive) To raise or increase.
    If you want to jack your stats you just write off failures as invalid results.
  3. (transitive, colloquial) To steal something, typically an automobile. Contraction of carjacking
    Someone jacked my car last night!
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
use a jack
steal

Etymology 2 [edit]

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

Verb [edit]

jack (third-person singular simple present jacks, present participle jacking, simple past and past participle jacked)

  1. (transitive, slang, baseball) To hit (the ball) hard; especially, to hit (the ball) out of the field, producing a home run.
    • 1986, in Arete: The Journal of Sport Literature, Volume 4,[2] Sport Literature Association:
      An excellent piece of work, Wayne thought, so good in fact, he wasn’t surprised when Bailey walked to the plate and on the first pitch jacked the ball far into the parking lot outside the left-field fence for a tournament winning homerun.
    • 2004, Wayne Stewart, Hitting Secrets of the Pros: Big League Sluggers Reveal the Tricks of Their Trade, McGraw-Hill Professional, ISBN 9780071418249, page 90:
      Therefore, even though Vizquel is certainly not a power hitter, at times he will try to jack the ball, perhaps pulling it with just enough oomph to carry down the line for a homer.
    • a. 2009, Jim McManus, quoted in T.J. Lewis, A View from the Mound: My Father’s Life in Baseball, Lulu.com (publisher, 2008), ISBN 9781435714861, page 107:
      Maybe he hung a curve ball to somebody and they jacked it out of the park on him and he wasn’t upset about it.
Derived terms [edit]
terms derived from jack (verb)
Translations [edit]
to hit the ball hard
to hit a home run

Etymology 3 [edit]

French jaque, jacque, perhaps from the proper name Jacques. Compare jacquerie.

Noun [edit]

jack (plural jacks)

  1. A coarse mediaeval coat of defence, especially one made of leather.
    • Sir J. Harrington
      Their horsemen are with jacks for most part clad.

Etymology 4 [edit]

Noun [edit]

jack (plural jacks)

  1. A jackfruit tree.

References [edit]

Dutch [edit]

Noun [edit]

jack n (plural jacks, diminutive jackje)

  1. jacket
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