jack-in-office

English

Alternative forms

• jack in office

Noun

jack-in-office (plural jacks-in-office)

1. (derogatory) A self-important but minor official.
   • 1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan, →OCLC, page 8:

     But a man gifted with original thoughts and the power of expressing them, appears to be regarded by everyone in authority as much worse than the worst criminal, and all the 'jacks-in-office' unite to kick him to death if they can.

   • 1967, C. P. Snow, foreword to A Mathematician's Apology, G. H. Hardy, 1948.

     Chapel at Trinity was compulsory. Hardy told the Dean, [...], that he could not conscientiously attend. The Dean, who must have been a jack-in-office, insisted that Hardy should write to his parents and tell them so.

Synonyms

• jack guardant (archaic), petty functionary

Hypernyms

• bureaucrat, official, see also: Thesaurus:bureaucrat