1647. Beaumont & Fletcher, Faithful Friend, i. 2. A company of quarrelling Jacks. . . . They say they have been soldiers, and fall out About their valours.
1653. Brome, Five New Plays, 403. The frumping Jacks are gone.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii. Wid. Marry come up, you saucy familiar Jack!
1738. Swift, Polite Convers. Dial. 1. But, I swear, you are a saucy Jack to use such expressions.
9. (gaming).—A counter resembling in size and appearance a sovereign. Also half-jacks. See quot.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. etc. i. 387. They are all made in Birmingham, and are of the size and colour of the genuine sovereigns and half sovereigns. . . . Each presents a profile of the Queen; but instead of the superscription Victoria Dei Gratiâ' of the true sovereign, the jack has 'Victoria Regina'. On the reverse, in the place of the 'Britanniarum Regina Fid. Def.' surrounding the royal arms and crown, is a device (intended for an imitation of St. George and the Dragon) representing a soldier on horseback—the horse having three legs elevated from the ground, while a drawn sword fills the right hand of the equestrian, and a crown adorns his head. The superscription is, 'to Hanover,' and the rider seems to be sociably accompanied by a dragon. Round the Queen's head on the half jack is 'Victoria, Queen of Great Britain,' and on the reverse the Prince of Wales's feather, with the legend, 'The Prince of Wales's Model Half Sovereign.'
10. (common).—(a) A sailor: also jack-tar, English-jack, and Spanish-jack. (b) An attendant at a boat-house. Also Jack-in-the-water (q.v.).
1788. C. Dibdin, Poor Jack, 'Song'. There's a sweet little Cherub that sits up aloft, To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
1867. Cassell's Family Paper, 23 Feb. The old brigadier ordered the jacks to storm.
11. (American schools').—A stranger.
12. (old).—A male sweetheart; cf. Gill.
c.1500. Babees Book, [E.E.T.S.], 22. And aryse up soft and stylle, And iangylle nether Iak ne Iylle.
1592. Shakspeare, Midsummer Nights Dream, iii. 2. Jack shall have Jill.
1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 104. Yet there is neuer a Iacke for Gill.
13. (nautical).—The Union Jack; the rag (q.v.).
1652. In Preble, Hist. of the Flag, p. 151. In a paper dated Jan. 14, 1652 . . . it is ordered, 'all the ships to wear Jacks as formerly'.
1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads, 'The Rhyme of the Three Captains'. Now he floated the Gridiron, and now he floated the Jack.
14. (Old Cant).—A seal. See Jark.
15. (thieves').—A policeman. For synonyms see Beak and Copper.
1889. Richardson, Police, p. 320, s.v.
16. (Scots').—See Jakes.
17. (venery).—An erectio penis. For synonyms see Horn.
18. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see Creamstick and Prick.
19. (colloquial).—A male: as in the compounds Jack-hare, Jack-crow, Jack-ass, Jack-rabbit, etc.
1563. Appius & Virginius [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 151]. A gentleman?—nay, a Jack-herring.
1894. De Somerville & Ross, The Real Charlotte, i. 210. And I don't care a Jack-rat what he thought, or what you think either.
20. (old).—An ape.
