Chapter J to Jack of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

J to Jack

J (In Punch). The signature of Douglas Jerrold, who first contributed to No. 9 of the series.

J. J (In Hogarth's Gin Lane, written on a gibbet), is intended for Sir Joseph Jekyll, obnoxious for his bill for increasing the duty on gin.

Jaafer At the battle of Muta, Jaafer carried the sacred banner of "the Prophet." One hand being lopped off, he held it with the other; the other being struck off, he embraced it with his two stumps; his head being cleft in twain, he flung himself on the banner staff, and the banner was detained thus till Abdallah seized it and handed it to Khaled. A similar tale is told of Cynægiros q.v.).

Jachin The parish clerk in Crabbe's Borough. He appropriated the sacramental money, and died disgraced.
   Jachin. (See Boaz.)

Jack
   I. APPLIED TO MEN, but always depreciatingly. (See Tom.)
   (1) Jack Adams. A fool.
   (2) Jack- a-dandy (q.v.).
   (3) Jack-a-dreams. A man of inaction, a mere dreamer.
   (4) Jack-a-drognes. A good- natured, lazy fool. (Dutch, druilen, to be listless; our drawl.)
   (5) Jack-a-Lent. A half-starved, sheepish booby. Shakespeare says: "You little Jack-a-lent, have you been true to us?" (Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 3.)
   A kind of Aunt Sally which was thrown at in Lent. (See Cleveland's Poems [1660], p. 64.)
   (6) Jack- a-napes (q.v.).
   (7) Jack-at-a-pinch. One who lends a hand in an emergency; an itinerant clergyman who has no cure, but officiates for a fee in any church where his assistance is required.
   (8) Jack Brag. (See Brag.)
   (9) Jack Fool. More generally, Tom Fool (q.v.).
   (10) Jack Ketch (q.v.).
   (11) Jack-pudding (q.v.).
   (12) Jack-sauce. An insolent saucebox, "the worst Jack of the pack." Fluellen says one who challenges another and refuses to fight is a "Jack-sauce." (Henry V., iv. 7.)
   (13) Jack-snip. A botching tailor.
   (14) Jack-slave. "Every Jack-slave hath his belly full of fighting." (Shakespeare: Cymbeline, ii. 1.)
   (15) Jack-sprat (q.v.).
   (16) Jack-straw. A peasant rebel.
   (17) Jack-tar (q.v.).
   (18) Jack-in-office. A conceited official, or upstart, who presumes on his official appointment to give himself airs.
   (19) Jack-in-the-green. A chimney-sweep boy in the midst of boughs, on May Day.
   (20) Jack-in-the-water. An attendant at the waterman's stairs, etc., willing to wet his feet, if needs be, for a "few coppers."
   (21) Jack-of-all-trades. One who can turn his hand to anything, but excels in nothing.
   (22) Jack-of-both-sides. One who tries to favour two antagonistic parties, either from fear or for profit.
   (23) Jack-out-of-office. "But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office." (Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI., i. 1.)
   (24) Cheap Jack. (See Cheap.)
   (25) Jack will never be a gentleman. A mere parvenu will never be like a well-bred gentleman.
   (26) Every man-Jack of them. All without exception, even the most insignificant.
   (27) Remember poor Jack. Throw a copper to the boys paddling about the jetty or pier, or performing tricks under the hope of getting a small bounty.
   II. APPLIED TO BOYS WHO ACT THE PART OF MEN.
   (1) Jack Frost. Frost personified as a mischievous boy.
   (2) Jack Sprat. Who bears the same relation to a man as a sprat does to a mackerel or herring.
   (3) Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme). Jill or Gill is a contraction of Julienne or Gillian, a common Norman name. (See Jack, VII.)
   (4) Jack and the Bean-stalk (q.v.).
   (5) Jack and the Fiddler (q.v.).
   (6) Jack of cards. The Knave or boy of the king and queen of the same suit.
   (7) Jack the Giant-killer (q.v.).
   (8) Glym Jack. A link boy who carries a glym. (German, glimmen.) (See Glim.)
   (9) Little Jack Horner. (See Jack Horner.)
   (10) The house that Jack built (nursery tale).
   III. APPLIED TO THE MALES OR INFERIOR ANIMALS: as -
   Jack-ass, Jack- baker (a kind of owl), Jack or dog fox, Jack-hare, Jack-hern, Jack-rat, Jack-shark, Jack-snipe; a young pike is called a Jack, so also were the male birds used in falconry.
   IV. APPLIED TO INSTRUMENTS which supply the place of or represent inferior men or boys: -
   (1) A jack. Used instead of a turn-spit boy, generally called Jack.
   (2) A jack. Used for lifting heavy weights.
   (3) Jack. The figure outside old public clocks made to strike the bell.

"Strike like Jack o' the clock-house, never but in season." - Strode: Floating Island.

   (4) Jack-roll. The cylinder round which the rope of a well coils.
   (5) Jack-in-the-basket. The cap or basket on the top of a pole to indicate the place of a sandbank at sea, etc.
   (6) Jack-in-the-box. A toy consisting of a box out of which, when the lid is raised, a figure springs.
   (7) Boot-jack. An instrument for drawing off boots, which used to be done by inferior servants.
   (8) Bottle-jack. A machine for lifting the roast instead of a turnspit.
   (9) Lifting-jack. A machine for lifting the axle-tree of a carriage when the wheels are cleaned.
   (10) Roasting-jack. (See Bottle-jack, 8.)
   (11) Smoke-jack. An apparatus in a chimney-flue for turning a spit.