Jack, jack:
1.
familiar by-form of
the name ‘John’; hence a generic
proper name for any man of the common people;
proverb “Jack shall have Jill”
MND. III. ii. 461; so
LLL. V. ii. 883; in
Shr. IV. i. 51 a quibble
is intended (see sense 7).
2.
low-bred or
ill-mannered fellow, ‘knave’
Mer.V. III. iv. 77
“bragging J-s,”
Shr. II. i. 159, 282 [290] “a swearing ,”
1H4 III. iii. 98
“the prince is a , a sneak-cup,”
R3 I. iii. 53,
72
“Since every became a gentleman,”
Rom. II. iv. 161, III. i. 12, Ant. III. xi. [xiii.] 93, 103; see also sense
8
3.
“play the Jack,” play
the knave, do a mean trick Tp. IV. i. 198, Ado I. i. 192.
4.
figure of a man which
strikes the bell on the outside of a clock R3 IV. ii. 113, Tim. III. vi. 118.
5.
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
Sonn. cxxviii. 5
“How oft . . . Do I envy
those j-s that nimble leap To kiss the
tender inward of thy hand,”
13; usu. explained here as=key.
6.
in bowls, a smaller
bowl placed as a mark to aim at Cym. II. i. 2.
7.
measure for drink,
1/4 pint
Shr. IV. i. 51
“Be the J-s fair within,
the Jills fair without”
(cf. 1).
8.
attrib. as a kind of
proper name or nickname, used in contempt
Wiv. I. iv. 122
“I vill kill de Jack
priest,”
II. iii. 65
“Scurvy jack-dog
priest!,”
Cym. II. i. 23
“Every
Jack-slave.”
