Vocab: Jack

Actually, the same colleague asked me why Jack is in the proverb, and I told her,
"Well, I guess Jack kind of give people a feeling of knowing a lot."

When I said that, of course, I had a few examples in my mind to give to support me view.

First, there is a saying,
Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
It is used to say someone knows many things, but is very good at none of them. This is one that I would use to describe myself.

And if you just do a little search in the dictionary, you can easily find a lot more meanings. You can click on the words for definitions or pictures (credits given to all contributors but myself):

1. 'Jack-of-all-trades' without the later part is a positive noun to say someone who can do different jobs.
2. 'A car jack' is used to lift up a car for fixing.
3. To 'jack sth up' is to lift up sth heavy with a jack. e.g. ~ the car.
4. To 'jack sth up' is also an informal phrasal verb meaning to lift up the price greatly and suddenly. e.g. ~ the price of pork.
5. 'Jack' is a playing card with a letter J and a man in it. It is after '10' and before 'Q'.
6. 'Jack' is a small ball in a rolling ball game.
7. 'Jack' is a device connecting 2 other electrical devices.
8. 'Jack Frost' is a baby word to describe very cold weather.
9. To 'jack-knife' is to make a bend that looks like a pocket multi-knives.
10. 'Jack-knife' is of course the multi-knife itself.
11. 'Jack-in-the-box' is a children's toy that has a toy jumping out from a box when opens.
12. 'Jack-o'-lantern' is a lantern made with pumpkin for Holloween.
13. 'Jack plug' is a connector from one electrical device to another. See picture.
14. To 'jack sth in' is an UK informal phrasal verb which means to stop doing sth that you do not enjoy. e.g. ~ his job.

(I hope you are fine with my rephrasing of the definition, hope it makes it easier to grasp.)

Tomorrow, I will look into the meanings of other names with you, but before I do, I think you can see how widely used is this particular name. So even if Jack doesn't carry a real meaning of 'a person who knows a lot', I guess you will agree with me that the word 'Jack' does know how to appear often in the dictionary.


Do you know how to put your name on the dictionary? I don't know. So, 'Jack' knows more than 'Locky' does.

Not to forget the famous figures with the name Jack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_(name)