jack

noun

1. 1

   A coarse medieval coat of defence, especially one made of leather.

   jack of plate

   jack of mail

   padded jack

   Their horsemen are with jacks for most part clad, / Their horses are both swift of course and strong, / They run on horseback with a slender gad, / And like a speare, but that it is more long.

noun

1. 1

   A man. A name applied to a hypothetical or typical man.

   After Dinner they frisk away to some known Place of Rendezvous, where (at Night) every Jack has his Jill and every Jill has her Jack.

2. 2

   A man. A man, a fellow; a typical man; men in general.

   Call you me daughter? now I promiſe you / You haue ſhewd a tender fatherly regard, / To wiſh me wed to one halfe Lunaticke, / A mad-cap ruffian, and a ſwearing Iacke, / That thinkes with oathes to face the matter out.

3. 3

   A man. A sailor.

4. 4

   slangA man. A policeman or detective; (Australia) a military policeman.

   When Wardell arrived on the scene, they were surprised to find that he was unshaven, and did not look too happy. One of them remarked: "The 'Jacks' (detectives) are after you."

   'I'd like you to meet DCI Henry Christie,' FB was saying. The older of the two jacks reached forward and gave Henry's right paw a quick tug.

5. 5

   archaicA man. A manual laborer.

6. 6

   A man. A lumberjack.

7. 7

   historicalA man. A sepoy.

   I hope to God his theories will not unman him in action, that he will not be musing and refining when he should be leading the Jacks […]

8. 8

   A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A device for turning a spit; a smokejack or roasting jack.

   Our hero, among his other remarks, had obſerved, that in this place there was no ſuch utenſil as a jack, and that all the ſpits were turned by dogs, […]

9. 9

   A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. Each of a series of blocks in a harpsichord or the earlier virginal, communicating the action of the key to the quill; sometime also, a hopper in a modern piano.

   Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap / To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, / Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, / At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!

   [W]hat the devil makes you so dull, Letitia? I thought to have found you popping about as brisk as the jacks of your harpsichord.

   In the virginal, an upright piece of wood fixed to the key-lever and fitted with a quill which plucked the string as the jack rose when the key was pressed down. Here used as "key."

10. 10

    A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. a tool used in manual production of glass objects (like bottles or wine glasses).

11. 11

    obsoleteA mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A support for wood being sawn; a sawhorse or sawbuck.

12. 12

    A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A device used to hold a boot by the heel, to assist in removing the boot.

13. 13

    A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A mechanical device used to raise and (temporarily) support a heavy object, now especially to lift one side of a motor vehicle when (e.g.) changing a tyre.

    She used a jack to lift her car and changed the tire.

14. 14

    A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. Any of various levers for raising or lowering the sinkers which push the loops down on the needles in a knitting machine or stocking frame.

15. 15

    archaicA mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A wedge for separating rocks rent by blasting.

16. 16

    obsoleteA mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A grating device used to separate and guide the threads in a warping machine; a heck-box.

17. 17

    obsoleteA mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A machine for twisting the sliver as it leaves a carding machine, in the preparation of yarn.

18. 18

    A mechanical device or utensil used for lifting. A switch for a jack plug, a jackknife switch; (more generally) a socket used to connect a device to a circuit, network etc.

    telephone jack

19. 19

    historicalA non-tool object or thing. A pitcher or other vessel for holding liquid, especially alcoholic drink; a black-jack.

    Dead VVine that ſtinks of the Borrachio, ſup / From a fovvl Jack, or greaſie Maple Cup?

    He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf—our crug—moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.

20. 20

    A non-tool object or thing. The lowest court card in a deck of standard playing cards, ranking between the 10 and queen, with an image of a knave or pageboy on it.

21. 21

    obsoleteA non-tool object or thing. A counter used to represent money in a gambling establishment.

22. 22

    A non-tool object or thing. A small, typically white, ball used as the target ball in bowls; a jack-ball.

    like an uninstructed bowler, so to speak, who thinks to attain the jack, by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it

23. 23

    A non-tool object or thing. A small ship's flag used as a signal or identifying device; a small flag flown at the bow of the vessel.

24. 24

    archaicA non-tool object or thing. A measure of liquid corresponding to a quarter of a pint.

    To a pound of sugar put a jack of water.

25. 25

    obsoleteA non-tool object or thing. A fake coin designed to look like a sovereign.

26. 26

    archaicA non-tool object or thing. A jackcrosstree.

27. 27

    A non-tool object or thing. A small, six-pointed playing piece used in the game of jacks.

28. 28

    A non-tool object or thing. A torch or other light used in hunting to attract or dazzle game at night.

    a heron when seeing a deer attracted by the jack

29. 29

    slangA non-tool object or thing. Money, cash.

    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 (or jack-shit) […].

    Angels come from everywhere with lots of jack, and when you lose it, there's no attack. Where could you get money that you don't give back? Let's go on with the show

30. 30

    A non-tool object or thing. A strong alcoholic liquor, especially home-distilled or illicit.

    [A] quart of raisin jack was divided between us with the result that tha day proper (after the night before) was spent very quietly, watered and Bromo-Seltzered, with amusing anecdotes occasionally sprouting from towelled head to towelled head.

31. 31

    slangA non-tool object or thing. Nothing, not anything, jack shit.

    You haven't done jack. Get up and get this room cleaned up right now!

    Sergeant Albrecht: Hey, c'mon, read the file! Shelly Webster, held on for 30 hours in intensive care and, her body finally just gave up. I saw it man, I couldn't do jack for her.

    She didn't know what he was doing on the Darvish farm, or how long he'd been there, or how long he planned to stay. She didn't even know if it was his plane. In other words, jack, Mira thought, in a spike of furious resentment against herself.

32. 32

    slangA non-tool object or thing. The eleventh batsman to come to the crease in an innings.

33. 33

    slangA non-tool object or thing. A smooth often ovoid large gravel or small cobble in a natural water course.

34. 34

    A plant or animal. A pike, especially when young.

35. 35

    A plant or animal. A male ass, especially when kept for breeding.

36. 36

    A plant or animal. Any of the marine fish in the family Carangidae.

37. 37

    A plant or animal. A jackrabbit.

    Cottontails were taken along the creeks, under the willows. Their flesh was preferable to that of the jacks[…]"

38. 38

    A plant or animal. A large California rockfish, the bocaccio, Sebastes paucispinis.

39. 39

    A plant or animal. Mangifera caesia, related to the mango tree.

40. 40

    A plant or animal. Plant in the genus Arisaema, also known as Jack-in-the-pulpit, and capitalized Jack.

    Usually a jack that makes male flowers has only one main leaf (right), while female plants have two. […] The specific taxonomy of Jack-in-the Pulpit, a member of the Arum Family (Araceae), is rather up in the air. Some botanists believe all jacks are just one species, Arisaema triphyllum, while others claim there are as many as three: A. triphyllum, A. atrorubens, and A. stewardsonii.

    In fact, most male Jacks are under 14 inches tall. Most Jacks over 14 inches tend to be Jills.

41. 41

    A plant or animal. Spadix of a plant (also capitalized Jack).

    Lifting the flap at the top of the spathe reveals our slender and round-headed friend "Jack," known better to botanists as the spadix.

    On every kid’s list of favourite plants is our quirky Jack-in-the-pulpit with its green, red or purple spadices (the Jacks) and hooded green-, red- or almost black-striped spathes (the pulpits).

42. 42

    A plant or animal. Plant of the genus Emex, also considered synonymous to Rumex, if not then containing two species lesser jack and little jack for Emex spinosa syn. Rumex spinosus, Australian English three-corner jack and prickly jack for Emex australis syn. Rumex hypogaeus.

verb

1. 1

   To physically raise using a jack.

   He jacked the car so that he could replace the brake pads.

   Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.]

2. 2

   To raise or increase.

   If you want to jack your stats you just write off failures as invalid results.

3. 3

   To increase the potency of an alcoholic beverage similarly to distillation by chilling it to below the freezing point of water, removing the water ice crystals that form, and leaving the still-liquid alcoholic portion.

   Fruit of the orchard has been "jacked" these many generations, with Plymouth Rockers putting the hard cider barrel down into the ground to freeze, and […]

   The potency of a jacked beverage depends on the temperature applied to the original beverage; the colder the liquor, the more water can be frozen out […]. In New England, where this technique was historically used, people could get applejack to around 30 percent alcohol […].

4. 4

   To steal (something), typically an automobile; to rob (someone).

   Someone jacked my car last night!

   A kid in a M3's getting jacked right in front of me

   Now I'm in a new whip counting the big stack / Yellow-gold chain and the diamonds are black / Jack me? Nah, you don't wanna do that

5. 5

   To dance by moving the torso forward and backward in a rippling motion.

6. 6

   To jack off, to masturbate.

   I don't even care about mine, I can get my shit off while jacking in the shower.

7. 7

   To fight.

8. 8

   informalTo jerk or move by jerking; to remove or move (something).

adjective

1. 1

   Tired, disillusioned; fed up (with).

   In the end, black and white were both crawling on the ground in reconciliation. Both saying that they were plain jack of each other.

noun

1. 1

   The jackfruit.

   A mock living burial of the principal performer, who is placed in a pit, which is covered with planks, on the top of which a sacrifice is performed, with a fire kindled with jack wood (Artocarpus integrifolia) and a plant called erinna.

noun

1. 1

   A plant of the species Mangifera caesia.

noun

1. 1

   slangA home run.

   The year before ('76) Kingman had 37 jacks with only 502 PAs. Is that the limit?

   Me three. I never have quite understood all the "three true outcomes" fetish around here. I mean, I know that building an offense around walks and 3-run jacks embodies the Sabermetric Virtues, and especially in today's conditions that's the way to win, but man, it sure leads to some slow, boring games.

   3-run jacks are just another tool in a team's chest. The goal is to make the playoffs, then win at least one more game than your opponent each round. And repeat next year, and the year after that, and...

verb

1. 1

   slangTo hit (the ball) hard; especially, to hit (the ball) out of the field, producing a home run.

   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.

   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.

   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.

Forms

plural

jacks

comparative

more jack

superlative

most jack

past tense

jacked

past participle

jacked

present participle

jacking

third person singular

jacks