jacks

See also: Jacks

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒæks/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æks

Noun

jacks

1. plural of jack
2. (poker slang) A pair of jacks.
3. (UK, rhyming slang) Heroin tablets (from "jacks and jills" = pills)
   • 2011, R. Tyler, Heroin Guns:

     As soon as Barry swung the machete at his head, Vince snapped the PSF knife out of his pocket with his right hand and the jacks from his pocket with his left.

Derived terms

• cracker jacks
• lazy jacks

Translations

pair of jacks

• Finnish: jätkäpari

Noun

jacks

1. (slang, now chiefly Ireland) Alternative form of jakes: an outhouse or lavatory.

Translations

toilet

• Finnish: puusee (fi), veski (fi), vessa (fi)

Noun

jacks (uncountable)

a jack from the game of jacks

colorful jacks

1. (games) A children's game involving picking up objects; knucklebones; jackstones.
   • (Can we date this quote by Ray Bradbury, Let's Play Poison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The rest of the day he heard the children playing kick-the-can, hide-and-seek, Over-Annie-Over, jacks, tops, mibs, and the sound of the little monsters in every shrub and shadow would not let him rest.

Translations

a children's game

• Dutch: bikkelen (nl) n
• French: osselets (fr) m pl
• Italian: aliossi (it) m pl
• Maori: tutukai, kaimakamaka
• Portuguese: jogo das cinco marias m
• Spanish: matatenas f pl, payana (es) f, matatena f, yas m, yax (es) m, pallana f
• Swedish: jacks (sv)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

jacks

1. plural of jack

Portuguese

Noun

jacks

1. plural of jack

Spanish

Alternative forms

• yax, yas, yaquis

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English jacks.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈʝaɡs/ [ˈɟ͡ʝaɣ̞s]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʝaɡs/ [ˈɟ͡ʝaɣ̞s]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈʃaɡs/ [ˈʃaɣ̞s]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʒaɡs/ [ˈʒaɣ̞s]

• Rhymes: -aɡs

Noun

jacks m pl (plural only)

1. (games) jacks; knucklebones; jackstones

   Synonyms: chinta, matatena, matatenas, payaya, payana

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “jacks”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010