jackpot

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1 1.1.1 Noun 1.1.1.1 Derived terms 1.1.1.2 Translations 1.2 Etymology 2 1.2.1 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology 1

[edit] Noun

jackpot (plural jackpots)

1. A large cash prize or money.
2. An unexpected windfall or reward.

[edit] Derived terms

• hit the jackpot

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

Unknown

[edit] Noun

jackpot (plural jackpots)

1. (Western US) A difficult situation.
   • 1904, C. A. Boose, “letter”, The Railway Conductor, vol. XXI,: 

     and if you are not next to the ways and customs, the first thing you know you are in a jackpot so big four one spots would not be openers. I don't know what that last expression means, but I heard a fellow use it, and he was talking about a fellow that was in a very bad fix.

   • 1941, Agnes Morley Cleaveland, No life for a lady‎, page 284:

     "I'm in a jackpot." Sympathy shone from those friendly eyes at once. "It's shore too bad for a lady to be in a jackpot," he answered me earnestly.

   • 2005, Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, page 86:

     You're already in a jackpot, he said. I'm tryin to get you out of it.

2. A jumble of felled timber.
   • 1912, Supreme Court of Washington, “HENDRICKSON v. SIMPSON LOGGING CO.”, The Pacific reporter‎, June 18, page 395: 

     It frequently happens that trees fall across one another, forming what is known as a jackpot. A number of trees may fall in a single jackpot. One of the tools with which appellant claims a bucker should be provided is an undercutter rigging. When trees are in a jackpot, the proper method of procedure is to first cut the lower tree, and then the upper one. This lessens the liability of an upper log rolling or falling upon the workman while he Is engaged in cutting the lower tree. The cut of the lower tree is ordinarily made by sawing it from the upper side, but, when its position produces a strain which pinches the saw, it is sawed from the under side by what is known as an undercut. To make an undercut, it is necessary to have some appliance to support the moving saw which is then operated teeth upward. The appliance which appellant contends Is ordinarily used is known as an undercutter rigging. Having no uudercutter rigging, appellant requested resiKmdent's foreman to provide one, complaining that his work in a jackpot of large trees without one was unsafe and dangerous.