1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue: Section J

1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here: [LINK TO TABLE OF LINK]. Section J

JABBER. To talk thick and fast, as great praters usually do, to chatter like a magpye; also to speak a foreign language. He jabbered to me in his damned outlandish parlez vous, but I could not understand him; he chattered to me in French, or some other foreign language, but I could not understand him.

JACK. A farthing, a small bowl serving as the mark for bowlers. An instrument for pulling off boots.

JACK ADAMS. A fool. Jack Adams's parish; Clerkenwell.

JACK AT A PINCH, A poor hackney parson.

JACK IN A BOX, A sharper, or cheat. A child in the mother's womb.

JACK IN AN OFFICE, An insolent fellow in authority.

JACK KETCH. The hangman; vide DERRICK and KETCH.

JACK NASTY FACE. A sea term, signifying a common sailor.

JACK OF LEGS. A tall long-legged man; also a giant, said to be buried in Weston church, near Baldock, in Hertfordshire, where there are two stones fourteen feet distant, said to be the head and feet stones of his grave. This giant, says Salmon, as fame goes, lived in a wood here, and was a great robber, but a generous one; for he plundered the rich to feed the poor: he frequently took bread for this purpose from the Baldock bakers, who catching him at an advantage, put out his eyes, and afterwards hanged him upon a knoll in Baldock field. At his death he made one request, which was, that he might have his bow and arrow put into his hand, and on shooting it off, where the arrow fell, they would bury him; which being granted, the arrow fell in Weston churchyard. Above seventy years ago, a very large thigh bone was taken out of the church chest, where it had lain many years for a show, and was sold by the clerk to Sir John Tradescant, who, it is said, put it among the rarities of Oxford.

JACK PUDDING. The merry andrew, zany, or jester to a mountebank.

JACK ROBINSON. Before one could say Jack Robinson; a saying to express a very short time, originating from a very volatile gentleman of that appellation, who would call on his neighbours, and be gone before his name could be announced.

JACK SPRAT. A dwarf, or diminutive fellow.

JACK TAR. A sailor.

JACK WEIGHT. A fat man.

JACK WHORE. A large masculine overgrown wench.

JACKANAPES. An ape; a pert, ugly, little fellow.

JACKED. Spavined. A jacked horse.

JACKMEN. See JARKMEN.

JACKEY. Gin.

JACOB. A soft fellow. A fool.

JACOB. A ladder: perhaps from Jacob's dream. CANT. Also
  the common name for a jay, jays being usually taught to
  say, Poor Jacob! a cup of sack for Jacob.

JACOBITES. Sham or collar shirts. Also partizans for the
  Stuart family: from the name of the abdicated king, i.e.
  James or Jacobus. It is said by the whigs, that God
  changed Jacob's name to Israel, lest the descendants of
  that patriarch should be called Jacobites.

JADE. A term of reproach to women.

JAGUE. A ditch: perhaps from jakes.

JAIL BIRDS. Prisoners.

JAKES. A house of office, a cacatorium.

JAMMED. Hanged. CANT.

JANIZARIES. The mob, sometimes so called; also bailiffs, their setters, and followers.

JAPANNED. Ordained. To be japanned; to enter into holy orders, to become a clergyman, to put on the black cloth: from the colour of the japan ware, which is black.

JARK. A seal.

JARKMEN. Those, who fabricate counterfeit passes, licences, and certificates for beggars.

JARVIS. A hackney coachman.

JASON'S FLEECE. A citizen cheated of his gold.

JAW. Speech, discourse. Give us none of your jaw; let us have none of your discourse. A jaw-me-dead; a talkative fellow. Jaw work; a cry used in fairs by the sellers of nuts.

JAZEY. A bob wig.

IDEA POT. The knowledge box, the head. See KNOWLEDGE
  BOX.

JEFFY. It will be done in a jeffy; it will be done in a short
  space of time, in an instant.

JEHU. To drive jehu-like; to drive furiously: from a king
  of Israel of that name, who was a famous charioteer, and
  mentioned as such in the Bible.

JEM. A gold ring. CANT.

JEMMY FELLOW. A smart spruce fellow.

JEMMY. A crow. This instrument is much used by housebreakers.
Sometimes called Jemmy Rook.

JENNY. An instrument for lifting up the grate or top of a
  show-glass, in order to rob it. CANT.

JERRYCUMMUMBLE. To shake, towzle, or tumble about.

JERRY SNEAK. A henpecked husband: from a celebrated character in one of Mr. Foote's plays, representing a man governed by his wife.

JESSAMY. A smart jemmy fellow, a fopling.

JESIUT. See TO BOX THE JESUIT.

JESUITICAL. Sly, evasive, equivocal. A jesuitical answer; an equivocal answer.

JET. A lawyer. Autem jet; a parson.

JEW. An over-reaching dealer, or hard, sharp fellow; an extortioner: the brokers formerly behind St. Clement's church in the Strand were called Jews by their brethren the taylors.

JEW. A tradesman who has no faith, i.e. will not give credit.

JEW BAIL. Insufficient bail: commonly Jews, who for a sum of money will bail any action whatsoever, and justify, that is, swear to their sufficiency; but, when called on, are not to be found.

JEW'S EYE. That's worth a Jew's eye; a pleasant or agreeable sight: a saying taken from Shakespeare.

JIBBER THE KIBBER. A method of deceiving seamen, by fixing a candle and lanthorn round the neck of a horse, one of whose fore feet is tied up; this at night has the appearance of a ship's light. Ships bearing towards it, run on shore, and being wrecked, are plundered by the inhabitants. This diabolical device is, it is said, practised by the inhabitants of our western coasts.

JIG. A trick. A pleasant jig; a witty arch trick. Also a lock or door. The feather-bed jig; copulation.

JIGGER. A whipping-post. CANT.

JILT. A tricking woman, who encourages the addresses of
  a man whom she means to deceive and abandon.

JILTED. Rejected by a woman who has encouraged one's
  advances.

JINGLE BOXES. Leathern jacks tipped with silver, and
  hung with bells, formerly in use among fuddle caps.
  CANT.

JINGLE BRAINS. A wild, thoughtless, rattling fellow.

JINGLERS. Horse cosers, frequenting country fairs.

JUG. See DOUBLE JUG.

JUGGLER'S BOX. The engine for burning culprits in the hand. CANT.

JUKRUM. A licence.

JUMBLEGUT LANE. A rough road or lane.

JUMP. The jump, or dining-room jump; a species of robbery effected by ascending a ladder placed by a sham lamp-lighter, against the house intended to be robbed. It is so called, because, should the lamp-lighter be put to flight, the thief who ascended the ladder has no means of escaping but that of jumping down.

JUMPERS. Persons who rob houses by getting in at the windows.
  Also a set of Methodists established in South
  Wales.

JUNIPER LECTURE. A round scolding bout.

JURY LEG. A wooden leg: allusion to a jury mast, which is a temporary substitute for a mast carried away by a storm, or any other accident. SEA PHRASE.

JURY MAST. A JOURNIERE mast; i.e. a mast for the day or occasion.

JUST-ASS. A punning appellation for a justice.

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Grose, Francis. 2004. 1881 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5402/pg5402.html

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