21. (old).—A peasant.
1513. Dunbar, Poems (1883-4), i. 106. Jok that was wont to keep the stinks.
1589. Nashe, Anatomie of Absurdity, in Works [Grosart, i. 9]. They distinguish a gentleman from a . . . Jacke.
c.1636. London Chanticleers, Sc. i. Thou believ'st that more may be gotten with a Good your worship to every Jack than a Sirrah, deliver your purse to the best lord i' th' land.
1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie, in Wks. (1725), Bk. iv. p. 122. Shall I invite . . . Some saucy, proud Numidian Jack, and humbly beg of him to take Æneas' leavings.
Verb. (American).—1. To brand an unmarked yearling or maverick (q.v.).
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, 211. Any owner of a large herd considers himself authorised to brand a maverick which he finds on or near his ranche, and this operation is called to jack a maverick.
2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
3. (thieves'). To run away quickly. For synonyms see Amputate.
To lay on the jack, verb. phr. (old).—To thrash soundly; to scold in good round terms. For synonyms see Baste and Tan.
1557-8. Jacob & Esau [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 253]. If I wrought one stroke to-day, lay me on the jack.
1579. North, Noble Grecians, p. 127. And that they should make no reckoning of all that bravery and bragges, but should stick to it like men, and lay it on the jacks of them.
To make one's jack, verb. phr. (American).—To succeed; to gain one's point. [From the game of faro].
To be coppered on the jack, verb. phr. (American).—To fail; to lose one's point. [From the game of faro].
1878. J. H. Beadle, Western Wilds, 46. He . . . staked a pile of 'chips' and won; then made and lost, and made and lost alternately, selling his stock, when 'broke', and scarcely ate or drank till the tail of his last mule was coppered on the jack.
To play the jack, verb. phr. (old).—To play the rogue.
1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, iv. 1. Your fairy . . . has done little better than play the jack with us.
1612. Rowlands, Knave of Hearts, p. 20. [Hunterian Club Rept.]. Boy y'are a villaine, didst thou fill this Sacke? Tis flat, you Rascall, thou hast plaid the jacke.
1668. Pepys, Diary, Feb. 23. Who played the jacke with us all, and is a fellow that I must trust no more.
To be upon their jacks, verb. phr. (old).—To have an advantage.
To get jack in the orchard, verb. phr. (venery).—To achieve intromission. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
Every man jack (or every jack-rag), phr. (common).—Every one without exception.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, vi, vi. There is none: my missus says that not a man John of them is to be seen.
1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, viii. Sir Pitt had numbered every man jack of them.
1852. C. Reade, Peg Woffington, viii. Send them (the children) to bed; every man jack of them.
1861. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, iv, i. I knows every man jack of 'em, sir; and a fine staff they is.
1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, 'Free Speech', p. 103. Traitors, hevery man jack of 'em.
