jack — English Dictionary

jack
Pronunciations (2)
  • /ˈd͡ʒæk/
  • [ˈd͡ʒæk]

Noun

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

    Examples

    jack of plate

    jack of mail

    More examples (4)

    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.

    threescore men in jacks or light coats of mail

    The aketon, gambeson, vambasium, and jack were military vestments, calculated for the defence of the body, differing little from each other, except in their names, their materials and construction were nearly the same, the authorities quoted in the notes, shew they were all composed of many folds of linen, stuffed with cotton, wool or hair, quilted, and commonly covered with leather, made of buck or doe skin.

Noun

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

    Usage
    • capitalized
    Examples

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

    Usage
    • US usage
    • Countable
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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. A man. A sailor.

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    Synonyms
  4. A man. A policeman or detective; (Australia) a military policeman.

    Usage
    • Slang
    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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. A man. A manual laborer.

    Usage
    • Archaic
  6. A man. A lumberjack.

    Usage
    • Canada
    • US usage
    • Colloquial
  7. A man. A sepoy.

    Usage
    • India
    • Historical
    • Slang
    Examples

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

    Examples

    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. 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.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

    More examples (1)

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

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

    Usage
    • Obsolete
  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. 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.

    Examples

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

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

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

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

    Usage
    • Obsolete
  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.

    Antonyms
    Examples

    telephone jack

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

    Usage
    • Historical
    • Regional
    Examples

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

    More examples (1)

    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. 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.

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

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

    Synonyms
    Examples

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

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

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Archaic
    • Historical
    • Regional
    Examples

    To a pound of sugar put a jack of water.

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

    Usage
    • Obsolete
    • Slang
  26. A non-tool object or thing. A jackcrosstree.

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

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

    Usage
    • US usage
    Examples

    a heron when seeing a deer attracted by the jack

  29. A non-tool object or thing. Money, cash.

    Usage
    • US usage
    • Slang
    Examples
    More examples (2)

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

    Usage
    • Canada
    • US usage
    Examples
    More examples (1)

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

    Usage
    • euphemistic
    • Slang
    Examples

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

    More examples (2)

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

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

    Usage
    • Slang
  34. A plant or animal. A pike, especially when young.

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

    Usage
    • US usage
  36. A plant or animal. Any of the marine fish in the family Carangidae.

  37. A plant or animal. A jackrabbit.

    Usage
    • US usage
    Examples

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

  38. A plant or animal. A bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis), a large California rockfish.

  39. A plant or animal. white mango (Mangifera caesia). (See .)

  40. A plant or animal. A Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema), often capitalized Jack.

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    Examples
    More examples (1)

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

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    Examples

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

    More examples (1)

    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. A plant or animal. Any member of species 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. To physically raise using a jack.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Synonyms
    Examples

    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. To raise or increase.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

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

  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.

    Examples

    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 […]

    More examples (1)

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

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Someone jacked my car last night!

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

    More examples (1)

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

    Usage
    • Intransitive
  6. To jack off, to masturbate.

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    • Vulgar
    Examples

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

  7. To fight.

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

    Usage
    • Informal
    • Intransitive
    • Transitive

Adjective

  1. Tired, disillusioned; fed up (with).

    Usage
    • Australia
    Examples

    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. A jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus, syn. Artocarpus integrifolia).

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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. White mango (Mangifera caesia) of fruit-bearing plants.

Noun

  1. A home run.

    Usage
    • Slang
    Examples

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

    More examples (2)

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

    Usage
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    Examples
    More examples (2)

    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.

Noun

  1. a small worthless amount

    Examples

    you don't know jack

  2. someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor

    Broader terms
  3. immense East Indian fruit resembling breadfruit; it contains an edible pulp and nutritious seeds that are commonly roasted

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  4. a small ball at which players aim in lawn bowling

    Broader terms
  5. an electrical device consisting of a connector socket designed for the insertion of a plug

    Broader terms
  6. game equipment consisting of one of several small six-pointed metal pieces that are picked up while bouncing a ball in the game of jacks

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  7. small flag indicating a ship's nationality

    Broader terms
  8. one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a young prince

    Synonyms
  9. tool for exerting pressure or lifting

    Broader terms
  10. any of several fast-swimming predacious fishes of tropical to warm temperate seas

  11. male donkey

    Synonyms
    Broader terms

Verb

  1. lift with a special device

    Synonyms
    Examples

    jack up the car so you can change the tire

  2. hunt with a jacklight

    Synonyms
Word forms
jacksjacksjackingjackedjackedmore jackmost jackjak

Code Formatters

Format and beautify Java, Python, JavaScript, JSON, HTML and more; adjust indentation, spacing and line breaks.

More tools

Audio Editing & Effects

Trim, join or split recordings, remove silence or noise, and adjust volume, speed, pitch or channels.

More tools

Spreadsheet Tools

Open and edit CSV or Excel sheets, format tabular text, and convert CSV to Excel or SQL.

More tools

Markdown Tools

Write and preview Markdown, render Mermaid diagrams, and convert Markdown, HTML and tables between formats.

More tools

Text Tools

Compare passages, count words and keywords, sort or replace lines, and view DOCX text.

More tools

Dictionaries

Look up Chinese meanings, synonyms and antonyms, or find IPA pronunciations in multiple languages.

Audio Conversion & Playback

Convert between MP3, WAV, FLAC and more, play audio or raw PCM, and inspect or edit audio metadata.

JSON & Data Tools

Inspect, compare and validate JSON; test JSONPath expressions, or convert data to CSV, YAML and XML.

More tools

Speech Tools

Transcribe audio to text, generate speech from text, or record your voice in the browser.

Video Tools

Convert and compress video, trim or join clips, resize frames, and extract audio.

More tools

Video Playback & Recording

Play local or streaming video, record your screen or camera, and use your camera as an online mirror.

PDF Tools

Compress or merge PDFs, split and rearrange pages, convert pages to images, and view or compare documents.

More tools

Image Tools

Convert image formats, resize or crop photos, compress files, compare pictures, and extract text with OCR.

More tools

Image Creation

Capture and beautify screenshots, turn text into images or GIFs, draw on a whiteboard, and create word clouds or favicons.

More tools

Subtitle Tools

Edit SRT or VTT captions with a video preview, shift timing, convert formats, and manage subtitle tracks.

More tools

Archive Tools

Open ZIP, 7Z, RAR or TAR files, extract selected contents, and create new archives with optional ZIP/7Z passwords.

Encoders | Decoders

Encode and decode Base64 or Base32, escape URLs, HTML and Unicode text, and inspect JWT contents.

More tools

Number Tools

Convert number bases and values between binary, decimal and hex; turn numbers into words or text into binary.

Calculators

Work out percentages and fractions, summarize statistics, and calculate grades, discounts or aspect ratios.

More tools

Time Tools

Show an online clock, run a countdown or stopwatch, and calculate dates, ages or time-zone differences.

More tools

Network Tools

Check your IP and IPv6 connection, inspect HTTP requests or HAR files, and calculate CIDR address ranges.

Unit Conversions

Convert length, weight, temperature, data storage and other units.

Color Tools

Convert HEX, RGB and HSL values, extract colors from an image, check contrast, or test your display with solid colors.

QR Codes & Barcodes

Generate and scan QR codes or barcodes, including QR codes for links and Wi-Fi networks.

Developer & Security Tools

Generate hashes, UUIDs and passwords, test regular expressions, create URL slugs and check file permissions.

More tools

Utility Tools

Check screen resolution and refresh rate, measure with a screen ruler, test keys, or read from a teleprompter.

More tools

Games

2048, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Gomoku, Tank Battle

More tools