was a man who exhibited performing apes].
d.1529. Skelton, Poems, p. 160. He grins and he gapes, As it were Jack Napes.
1543. Bale, Romish Foxe, fol. 92. He played jack-a-napes swearynge by his tenne bones.
1567. Edwards, Damon and Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 60]. Away, jackanapes, else I will col'phise you by and by.
c.1590-1600. Alex Montgomerie, Sonnets [ed. Irving, 1821] p. 97. Blind brutal Boy, that with thy bou abuses Leill leisome Love by Lechery and Lust, Judge, Jakanapis and Jougler maist unjust &c.
1596. Nashe, Have with You etc. in Works [Grosart, iii. 156]. Common marks for every jackanapes preacher to kick, spit, or throw dirt at.
1598. Shakspeare, All's Well &c., iii. 5. That jackanapes with scarfs.
b.1602. Lingua [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 390]. This Invention is the proudest jackanapes . . . that ever breathed.
1604. Marston & Webster, Malcontent, i. 3. Sir Tristam Tristam come aloft, jacke-a-napes, with a whim-wham.
1612-13. Tailor, Hog hath Lost his Pearl, ii. Malapert, my father's butler, being a witty jackanapes, told me why it was.
1639. Glapthorne, Argalus and Parthenia, in Wks. (1874), i. 38. Ladies shall beat thee to death . . . thou jackanapes.
1653. Brome, Five New Plays, 200. Thou art a jackanapes of the basest tricks that ever I saw for a halfpenny.
1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scofft, in Wks. (1725), p. 180. Transformed myself (my pretty knave) Into these Man and Eagle's shapes, To snap my little jack-a-napes.
1690. B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew., s.v. Jackanapes, a Term of Reproach, a little sorry Whipper-snapper.
1712. Spectator, No. 311. I have myself caught a young jackanapes, with a pair of silver-fringed gloves, in the very fact.
1752. Foote, Taste (5th ed.) 33. Saucy jackanapes.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, ii. 1. Nome of your sneering, puppy! no grinning, jackanapes!
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Jackanapes . . . a pert ugly little fellow.
Jackaroo, subs. (Australian).—A
fresh arrival from England: a
new chum (q.v.).
1887. Chamber's Journal, 23 April, 262. The Jackaroo . . . is the invariable local name, or rather nickname, given to those young men who are sent out to the Australian colonies from almost every part of the United Kingdom in order to learn sheep or cattle-faming—generally the former—as carried on at the Antipodes.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush Life, i. 53. The young jackaroo woke early next morning, and went to look around him.
1889. E. W. Hornung, in London Society Holiday No 'Bushed'. I had been in the colony but a few months, and was engaged as jackeroo—that is, apprentice to 'colonial experience'.
Jackass, subs. (colloquial).—A
stupid ignoramus. For synonyms
see Buffle, and Cabbage-head.
Also jackassism = stupidity.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II, 268. Calling names, whether done to attack or to tack a schism, Is, Miss, believe me, a great piece of jack-ass-ism.
Jackass-frigate, subs. (nautical).—A
small slow-sailing frigate.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, xiii. He recommended me to the Captain of a jackass-frigate . . . so called because there is as much difference between them and a real frigate . . . as there is between a donkey and a race-horse.
Jack-Cove, subs. phr. (American
thieves').—A mean low fellow;
a snide (q.v.).—Matsell (1859).
Jack (or Tom) Drum's Entertainment,
subs. phr. (old).—Ill-treatment;
ignominious dismissal:
cf. Stafford Law.
