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1. Dictionary

   jack

   /dʒak/

   noun

   • 1. a device for lifting heavy objects, especially one for raising the axle of a motor vehicle off the ground so that a wheel can be changed or the underside inspected.
   • 2. a playing card bearing a representation of a soldier, page, or knave, normally ranking next below a queen.
   • 3. a socket designed to receive a jack plug.
   • 4. a plug used in a jack socket, consisting of a shaft used to make a connection that transmits a signal, typically used in sound equipment.
   • 5. a small white ball in bowls, at which the players aim.
   • 6. a game played by tossing and catching small round pebbles or star-shaped pieces of metal or plastic.
   • ▪ a pebble or piece of metal or plastic used in the game of jacks.
   • 7. used to typify an ordinary man: informal "he had that world-weary look of the working Jack who'd seen everything"
   • ▪ used as a form of address to a man whose name is not known. informal US
   • ▪ a lumberjack. informal North American
   • ▪ a detective or police officer.
   • ▪ a steeplejack. archaic
   • ▪ the figure of a man striking the bell on a clock.
   • 8. a small version of a national flag flown at the bow of a vessel in harbour to indicate its nationality.
   • 9. money. informal, dated North American
   • 10. a device for turning a spit.
   • 11. a part of the mechanism in a spinet or harpsichord that connects a key to its corresponding string and causes the string to be plucked when the key is pressed down.
   • 12. a marine fish that is typically laterally compressed with a row of large spiky scales along each side, important in many places as food or game fish.
   • 13. the male of various animals, especially a merlin.
   • 14. used in names of animals that are smaller than similar kinds, e.g. jack snipe.
   • 15. short for jack shit informal US

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Jack, pet form of the given name John. The term was used originally to denote an ordinary man (jack1 (sense 7)), also a youth (mid 16th century), hence the ‘knave’ in cards and ‘male animal’. The word also denoted various devices saving human labour, as though one had a helper (jack1 (sense 1, sense 3, sense 10, sense 11), and in compounds such as jackhammer and jackknife); the general sense ‘labourer’ arose in the early 18th century and survives in cheapjack, lumberjack, steeplejack, etc. Since the mid 16th century a notion of ‘smallness’ has arisen, hence jack1 (sense 5, sense 6, sense 8, sense 14).

   Scrabble Points: 17

   • J

     8

   • A

     1

   • C

     3

   • K

     5

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