jacitara

[The Brazilian name of the tree.] Bot.: Desmoncus macracanthos, a fine palm, fifty or sixty feet long, with a stem as thin as a cane. It grows along the Amazon and the Rio Negro. jack (1), *Jacke (1), s . [Fr. Jacques , from Latin Jacobus ; Gr. Iakōbos , from the Heb. Yaaqob =one who seizes by the heel, aqab =a heel. In the principal modern languages John, or its equivalent, is a common name of contempt, or slight. Thus the Italians use Gianni , whence Zani ; the Spaniards, Juan , as bobo Juan a foolish John=the French Jean, . Hence in English we have Jack - fool , Jack - an - apes , Jack - pudding , and perhaps Jacka . A Jack o ' the clock ( Shakesp .: Richard II . , v.5) was a figure which, in old clocks, struck the hours upon the bell: hence the word Jack came to be applied to various implements, which supplied the place of a boy or attendant, as the jack which turns the spit in a kitchen, a boot - jack , . Still more generally it is applied to a large variety of implements or instruments which are used in the place of another hand or of an a istant, and in this way is frequently compounded with other words, the a ociated word expre ing either its purpose, structure, or relation, as jack - screw , jack - frame , rail - jack , .] I. Ordinary Language : 1. The diminutive of the proper name John. 2. A term of contempt; an upshot, a clown, a boor. "Do you play the flouting jack"-Shakesp.: Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1. 3. A common equivalent for a sailor; a tar. *4. A cant word for a Jacobite. "With every wind he sailed, and well could tack, Had many pendents, but abhorred a Jack ." Swift: Elegy on Judge Boat. IMG:content-0084.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0085.jpg:[blocks in formation] (a) An instrument for turning a roasting joint of meat; a bottle-jack; a smoke-jack. "So footboys, who had frequently the common name of Jack given them, were kept to turn the spit, or to pull off their master's boots; but when instruments were invented for both these services, they were both called jacks ." Watts: Logic, pt. i., ch. iv. (b) A contrivance to a ist a person in taking off his boots; a boot-jack. (c) A pitcher, formerly of waxed leather, but now of metal; a black-jack. "Body of me, I'm dry still; give me the jack, boy." Beaum. & Flet.: Bloody Brother, ii. 2. (2) Knitting : The pivoted bar or lever in a knitting-machine, from whose end is suspended the sinker which forms the loop; a beater. (3) Mach .: A lifting instrument; a contrivance for lifting great weights. [JACK-SCREW.] (4) Metal - working : A form of metal planing-machine which has short, quick motions, and is used in shaping objects, planing seats for valves, . (5) Mining : A wooden wedge used in mining to aid in the cleavage of strata; a gad. (6) Music : Formerly the hammer or quill-carrier of a clavichord, virginal, harpsichord, or spinet, but now an intermediate piece which conveys to the hammer the motion imparted to the key. IMG:content-0086.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0087.png:[blocks in formation] marine; gō, põt, IMG:content-0088.jpg:[blocks in formation] Naut .: A flag hoisted at the spritsail top-mast of night. It hunts in packs. It is not, con- head. jack-frame, s . Cotton Man.: A contrivance, formerly in great favor, for giving a twist to the roving as it was delivered by the drawing rollers. jack-fruit, s. The fruit of the jaca-tree (q.v.). jack-hare, s . A male hare. jack-head pump, s. A form of lift-pumps for mines and deep borings, in which the delivery-pipe is secured to the cylinder by a goose-neck. Bot.: All i aria officinal is . One of the names of to be derived from Richard Jaquette, lord of the Sisymbrium all i aria . IMG:content-0089.png:[blocks in formation] manor of Tyburn, in England, where felons were for a long time hanged. jack-knife, s. A horn-handled clasp-knife with a laniard, worn by seamen. IMG:content-0090.png:[blocks in formation] "That jackanapes with scarfs." Shakesp.: All's Well that Ends Well , iii. 5. Jack-a , s . [ Eng.jack (1), and a .] 1. A male a . Ornith .: A provincial English name for the Goos- ander, Mergus merganser , a kind of duck. jack-screw, s. A lifting implement which acts by the rotation of a screw in a threaded socket. jack-sinker, s . Knitting- machine : A thin iron plate suspended from the end of the jack, and acting to depre the loop of thread between two needles. The jack- sinkers alternate with lead-sinkers, the former being movable separately, but the latter are at IMG:content-0091.jpg:[blocks in formation] 1. A short coat extending downward to the hips. 2. A kind of coat or dre made of cork to support the wearer while swimming; a cork jacket. 3. A short, outer, close-fitting garment worn by IMG:content-0092.png:[blocks in formation] and sometimes quilted like a gambeson. The illustration is taken from a MS. of the Roman de la Rose (1433). "At those dayes the yomen had theyr lymmes at lybertie, for theyre hosyn were than fastened wt one longe and easy to shote in."-Fa by an (1415). jack (3), jac, ja-ca, subst . [ Jaca is a word from the Indian Archipelago.] IMG:content-0093.png:[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small] jack pudding