Jack \Jack\ (j[a^]k), n. [F. Jacques James, L. Jacobus, Gr. ?,
Heb. Ya 'aq[=o]b Jacob; prop., seizing by the heel; hence, a
supplanter. Cf. Jacobite, Jockey.]
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1. A familiar nickname of, or substitute for, John.
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You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby. --Shak.
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2. An impertinent or silly fellow; a simpleton; a boor; a
clown; also, a servant; a rustic. "Jack fool." --Chaucer.
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Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There 's many a gentle person made a Jack. --Shak.
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3. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also
Jack tar, and Jack afloat.
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4. A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a
subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient
service, and often supplying the place of a boy or
attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:
(a) A device to pull off boots.
(b) A sawhorse or sawbuck.
(c) A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke
jack, or kitchen jack.
(b) (Mining) A wooden wedge for separating rocks rent by
blasting.
(e) (Knitting Machine) A lever for depressing the sinkers
which push the loops down on the needles.
(f) (Warping Machine) A grating to separate and guide the
threads; a heck box.
(g) (Spinning) A machine for twisting the sliver as it
leaves the carding machine.
(h) A compact, portable machine for planing metal.
(i) A machine for slicking or pebbling leather.
(k) A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for
multiplying speed.
(l) A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent
pipe, to prevent a back draught.
(m) In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece
communicating the action of the key to the quill; --
called also hopper.
(n) In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the
torch used to attract game at night; also, the light
itself. --C. Hallock.
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5. A portable machine variously constructed, for exerting
great pressure, or lifting or moving a heavy body such as
an automobile through a small distance. It consists of a
lever, screw, rack and pinion, hydraulic press, or any
simple combination of mechanical powers, working in a
compact pedestal or support and operated by a lever,
crank, capstan bar, etc. The name is often given to a
jackscrew, which is a kind of jack.
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6. The small bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls.
--Shak.
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Like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the
jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon
it. --Sir W.
Scott.
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7. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.
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8. (Zool.)
(a) A young pike; a pickerel.
(b) The jurel.
(c) A large, California rock fish (Sebastodes
paucispinus); -- called also boccaccio, and
m['e]rou.
(d) The wall-eyed pike.
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9. A drinking measure holding half a pint; also, one holding
a quarter of a pint. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
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10. (Naut.)
(a) A flag, containing only the union, without the fly,
usually hoisted on a jack staff at the bowsprit cap;
-- called also union jack. The American jack is a
small blue flag, with a star for each State.
(b) A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead,
to support a royal mast, and give spread to the royal
shrouds; -- called also jack crosstree. --R. H.
Dana, Jr.
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11. The knave of a suit of playing cards.
12. (pl.) A game played with small (metallic, with
tetrahedrally oriented spikes) objects (the jacks(1950+),
formerly jackstones) that are tossed, caught, picked up,
and arranged on a horizontal surface in various patterns;
in the modern American game, the movements are
accompanied by tossing or bouncing a rubber ball on the
horizontal surface supporting the jacks. same as
jackstones.
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13. Money. [slang]
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14. Apple jack.
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15. Brandy.
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Note: Jack is used adjectively in various senses. It
sometimes designates something cut short or diminished
in size; as, a jack timber; a jack rafter; a jack arch,
etc.
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Jack arch, an arch of the thickness of one brick.
Jack back (Brewing & Malt Vinegar Manuf.), a cistern which
receives the wort. See under 1st Back.
Jack block (Naut.), a block fixed in the topgallant or
royal rigging, used for raising and lowering light masts
and spars.
Jack boots, boots reaching above the knee; -- worn in the
17 century by soldiers; afterwards by fishermen, etc.
Jack crosstree. (Naut.) See 10, b, above.
Jack curlew (Zool.), the whimbrel.
Jack frame. (Cotton Spinning) See 4
(g), above.
Jack Frost, frost or cold weather personified as a
mischievous person.
Jack hare, a male hare. --Cowper.
Jack lamp, a lamp for still hunting and camp use. See def.
4
(n.), above.
Jack plane, a joiner's plane used for coarse work.
Jack post, one of the posts which support the crank shaft
of a deep-well-boring apparatus.
Jack pot (Poker Playing), the name given to the stakes,
contributions to which are made by each player
successively, till such a hand is turned as shall take the
"pot," which is the sum total of all the bets. See also
jackpot.
Jack rabbit (Zool.), any one of several species of large
American hares, having very large ears and long legs. The
California species (Lepus Californicus), and that of
Texas and New Mexico (Lepus callotis), have the tail
black above, and the ears black at the tip. They do not
become white in winter. The more northern prairie hare
(Lepus campestris) has the upper side of the tail white,
and in winter its fur becomes nearly white.
Jack rafter (Arch.), in England, one of the shorter rafters
used in constructing a hip or valley roof; in the United
States, any secondary roof timber, as the common rafters
resting on purlins in a trussed roof; also, one of the
pieces simulating extended rafters, used under the eaves
in some styles of building.
Jack salmon (Zool.), the wall-eyed pike, or glasseye.
Jack sauce, an impudent fellow. [Colloq. & Obs.]
Jack shaft (Mach.), the first intermediate shaft, in a
factory or mill, which receives power, through belts or
gearing, from a prime mover, and transmits it, by the same
means, to other intermediate shafts or to a line shaft.
Jack sinker (Knitting Mach.), a thin iron plate operated by
the jack to depress the loop of thread between two
needles.
Jack snipe. (Zool.) See in the Vocabulary.
Jack staff (Naut.), a staff fixed on the bowsprit cap, upon
which the jack is hoisted.
Jack timber (Arch.), any timber, as a rafter, rib, or
studding, which, being intercepted, is shorter than the
others.
Jack towel, a towel hung on a roller for common use.
Jack truss (Arch.), in a hip roof, a minor truss used where
the roof has not its full section.
Jack tree. (Bot.) See 1st Jack, n.
Jack yard (Naut.), a short spar to extend a topsail beyond
the gaff.
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Blue jack, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
Hydraulic jack, a jack used for lifting, pulling, or
forcing, consisting of a compact portable hydrostatic
press, with its pump and a reservoir containing a supply
of liquid, as oil.
Jack-at-a-pinch.
(a) One called upon to take the place of another in an
emergency.
(b) An itinerant parson who conducts an occasional
service for a fee.
Jack-at-all-trades, one who can turn his hand to any kind
of work.
Jack-by-the-hedge (Bot.), a plant of the genus Erysimum
(Erysimum alliaria, or Alliaria officinalis), which
grows under hedges. It bears a white flower and has a
taste not unlike garlic. Called also, in England,
sauce-alone. --Eng. Cyc.
Jack-in-office, an insolent fellow in authority. --Wolcott.
Jack-in-the-bush (Bot.), a tropical shrub with red fruit
(Cordia Cylindrostachya).
Jack-in-the-green, a chimney sweep inclosed in a framework
of boughs, carried in Mayday processions.
Jack-of-the-buttery (Bot.), the stonecrop (Sedum acre).
Jack-of-the-clock, a figure, usually of a man, on old
clocks, which struck the time on the bell.
Jack-on-both-sides, one who is or tries to be neutral.
Jack-out-of-office, one who has been in office and is
turned out. --Shak.
Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of a well-known nursery
story.
Yellow Jack (Naut.), the yellow fever; also, the quarantine
flag. See Yellow flag, under Flag.
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Yellow \Yel"low\ (y[e^]l"l[-o]), a. [Compar. Yellower
(y[e^]l"l[-o]*[~e]r); superl. Yellowest.] [OE. yelow,
yelwe, [yogh]elow, [yogh]eoluw, from AS. geolu; akin to D.
geel, OS. & OHG. gelo, G. gelb, Icel. gulr, Sw. gul, Dan.
guul, L. helvus light bay, Gr. chlo`n young verdure, chlwro`s
greenish yellow, Skr. hari tawny, yellowish. [root]49. Cf.
Chlorine, Gall a bitter liquid, Gold, Yolk.]
1. Being of a bright saffronlike color; of the color of gold
or brass; having the hue of that part of the rainbow, or
of the solar spectrum, which is between the orange and the
green.
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Her yellow hair was browded [braided] in a tress.
--Chaucer.
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A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First fruits, the green ear and the yellow sheaf.
--Milton.
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The line of yellow light dies fast away. --Keble.
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2. Cowardly; hence, dishonorable; mean; contemptible; as, he
has a yellow streak. [Slang]
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3. Sensational; -- said of some newspapers, their makers,
etc.; as, yellow journal, journalism, etc. [Colloq.]
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Yellow atrophy (Med.), a fatal affection of the liver, in
which it undergoes fatty degeneration, and becomes rapidly
smaller and of a deep yellow tinge. The marked symptoms
are black vomit, delirium, convulsions, coma, and
jaundice.
Yellow bark, calisaya bark.
Yellow bass (Zool.), a North American fresh-water bass
(Morone interrupta) native of the lower parts of the
Mississippi and its tributaries. It is yellow, with
several more or less broken black stripes or bars. Called
also barfish.
Yellow berry. (Bot.) Same as Persian berry, under
Persian.
Yellow boy, a gold coin, as a guinea. [Slang] --Arbuthnot.
Yellow brier. (Bot.) See under Brier.
Yellow bugle (Bot.), a European labiate plant (Ajuga
Chamaepitys).
Yellow bunting (Zool.), the European yellow-hammer.
Yellow cat (Zool.), a yellow catfish; especially, the
bashaw.
Yellow copperas (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of iron; --
called also copiapite.
Yellow copper ore, a sulphide of copper and iron; copper
pyrites. See Chalcopyrite.
Yellow cress (Bot.), a yellow-flowered, cruciferous plant
(Barbarea praecox), sometimes grown as a salad plant.
Yellow dock. (Bot.) See the Note under Dock.
Yellow earth, a yellowish clay, colored by iron, sometimes
used as a yellow pigment.
Yellow fever (Med.), a malignant, contagious, febrile
disease of warm climates, attended with jaundice,
producing a yellow color of the skin, and with the black
vomit. See Black vomit, in the Vocabulary.
Yellow flag, the quarantine flag. See under Quarantine,
and 3d Flag.
Yellow jack.
(a) The yellow fever. See under 2d Jack.
(b) The quarantine flag. See under Quarantine.
Yellow jacket (Zool.), any one of several species of
American social wasps of the genus Vespa, in which the
color of the body is partly bright yellow. These wasps are
noted for their irritability, and for their painful
stings.
Yellow lead ore (Min.), wulfenite.
Yellow lemur (Zool.), the kinkajou.
Yellow macauco (Zool.), the kinkajou.
Yellow mackerel (Zool.), the jurel.
Yellow metal. Same as Muntz metal, under Metal.
Yellow ocher (Min.), an impure, earthy variety of brown
iron ore, which is used as a pigment.
Yellow oxeye (Bot.), a yellow-flowered plant
(Chrysanthemum segetum) closely related to the oxeye
daisy.
Yellow perch (Zool.), the common American perch. See
Perch.
Yellow pike (Zool.), the wall-eye.
Yellow pine (Bot.), any of several kinds of pine; also,
their yellowish and generally durable timber. Among the
most common are valuable species are Pinus mitis and
Pinus palustris of the Eastern and Southern States, and
Pinus ponderosa and Pinus Arizonica of the Rocky
Mountains and Pacific States.
Yellow plover (Zool.), the golden plover.
Yellow precipitate (Med. Chem.), an oxide of mercury which
is thrown down as an amorphous yellow powder on adding
corrosive sublimate to limewater.
Yellow puccoon. (Bot.) Same as Orangeroot.
Yellow rail (Zool.), a small American rail (Porzana
Noveboracensis) in which the lower parts are dull yellow,
darkest on the breast. The back is streaked with brownish
yellow and with black, and spotted with white. Called also
yellow crake.
Yellow rattle, Yellow rocket. (Bot.) See under Rattle,
and Rocket.
Yellow Sally (Zool.), a greenish or yellowish European
stone fly of the genus Chloroperla; -- so called by
anglers.
Yellow sculpin (Zool.), the dragonet.
Yellow snake (Zool.), a West Indian boa (Chilobothrus
inornatus) common in Jamaica. It becomes from eight to
ten long. The body is yellowish or yellowish green, mixed
with black, and anteriorly with black lines.
Yellow spot.
(a) (Anat.) A small yellowish spot with a central pit, the
fovea centralis, in the center of the retina where
vision is most accurate. See Eye.
(b) (Zool.) A small American butterfly (Polites Peckius)
of the Skipper family. Its wings are brownish, with a
large, irregular, bright yellow spot on each of the
hind wings, most conspicuous beneath. Called also
Peck's skipper. See Illust. under Skipper, n., 5.
Yellow tit (Zool.), any one of several species of crested
titmice of the genus Machlolophus, native of India. The
predominating colors of the plumage are yellow and green.
Yellow viper (Zool.), the fer-de-lance.
Yellow warbler (Zool.), any one of several species of
American warblers of the genus Dendroica in which the
predominant color is yellow, especially Dendroica
aestiva, which is a very abundant and familiar species;
-- called also garden warbler, golden warbler, summer
yellowbird, summer warbler, and yellow-poll warbler.
Yellow wash (Pharm.), yellow oxide of mercury suspended in
water, -- a mixture prepared by adding corrosive sublimate
to limewater.
Yellow wren (Zool.)
(a) The European willow warbler.
(b) The European wood warbler.
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