J

1. Originally, a kind of ruffle worn by men on the bosom of the shirt.
2. An arrangement of lace or tulle, looped ornamentally, and worn by women on the front of the dress.
3. A small evergreen tropical tree (Myrciaria cauliflora) native to Brazil and West Indies but introduced into southern U. S.; it is grown in Brazil for its edible tough-skinned purple grapelike fruit that grows all along the branches.
4. The tough-skinned purple grapelike tropical fruit of the jaboticaba tree (Myrciaria cauliflora), grown in Brazil.
5. A familiar nickname of, or substitute for, John.
6. An impertinent or silly fellow; a simpleton; a boor; a clown; also, a servant; a rustic.
7. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also Jack tar, and Jack afloat.
8. 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
9. 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.
10. The small bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls.
11. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.
12. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of carnivorous animals inhabiting Africa and Asia, related to the dog and wolf. They are cowardly, nocturnal, and gregarious. They feed largely on carrion, and are noted for their piercing and dismal howling.
13. One who does mean work for another's advantage, as jackals were once thought to kill game which lions appropriated.
14. A monkey; an ape.
15. A coxcomb; an impertinent or conceited fellow.
1. The native Brazilian name for certain leguminous trees, which produce the beautiful woods called king wood, tiger wood, and violet wood.
2. A genus of bignoniaceous Brazilian trees with showy trumpet-shaped flowers.
3. A device to pull off boots.
4. A sawhorse or sawbuck.
5. A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke jack, or kitchen jack.
6. A compact, portable machine for planing metal.
7. A machine for slicking or pebbling leather.
8. A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for multiplying speed.
9. A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent pipe, to prevent a back draught.
10. In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece communicating the action of the key to the quill; -- called also hopper.
11. In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the torch used to attract game at night; also, the light itself.
12. A young pike; a pickerel.
13. The jurel.
14. A large, California rock fish (Sebastodes paucispinus); -- called also boccaccio, and mérou.
15. The wall-eyed pike.
16. 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.
17. 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.
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 (Zoöl.),
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.
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 (Zoöl.),
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 (Zoöl.),
the wall-eyed pike, or glasseye.
Jack sauce ,
an impudent fellow.
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 . (Zoöl.)
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.