jack (redirected from on Jack Jones)

A good husband makes a good wife. and A good Jack makes a good Jill.

Prov. If a husband or man wants his wife or girlfriend to be respectful and loving to him, he should be respectful and loving to her. Don't blame your wife for being short-tempered with you; you've been so unpleasant to her lately. A good husband makes a good wife.

See also: good, make, wife

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Prov. It is not healthy for someone to work all the time and never play. (Often used to exhort someone to stop working, or to justify why you have stopped working. You can substitute the name of the person you are addressing for Jack.) Don't come to the office this weekend. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I'd like to take a week's vacation next month. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

See also: and, boy, dull, make, play, work

before you can say Jack Robinson and quicker than you can say Jack Robinson

Fig. almost immediately. (Often found in children's stories.) And before you could say Jack Robinson, the bird flew away. I'll catch a plane and be there quicker than you can say Jack Robinson.

See also: before, can, Robinson, say

Every Jack has his Jill.

Prov. Every man will eventually find a woman to be his romantic partner. Bill: I'll never have a girlfriend. None of the girls I take out will agree to a second date. Fred: Cheer up; every Jack has his Jill.

See also: every, has, his, jill

jack someone around and jerk someone around

Sl. to give someone a difficult time; to harass someone. Come on! Stop jacking me around! Max started jerking Lefty around, and it looked as if there was going to be trouble. You jack around everyone you know!

See also: around

jack someone up 

1. Sl. to excite or stimulate someone, possibly with drugs. Tom jacked up his buddy by talking to him. Tom jacked up Fred with a lot of encouragement.

2. Sl. to motivate someone; to stimulate someone to do something. The mail is late again today. We'll have to jack those people up at the post office. I guess I'll have to jack up the carpenter again to repair my stairs.

See also: up

jack something up 

1. Lit. to raise something up on a mechanical lifting device. Now I have to jack the car up, so I can change the tire. Please jack up the car.

2. Fig. to raise the price of something. The store keeps jacking prices up. The grocery store jacked up the prices again last night.

See also: up

jack around and jerk around

sl. to waste time. Stop jacking around and get some work done! The kids spend most of the day jerking around.

See also: around

jack of all trades someone

who can do several different jobs instead of specializing in one. John can do plumbing, carpentry, and roofing—a real jack of all trades. He isn't very good at any of them. Take your car to a certified engine mechanic, not a jack of all trades.

See also: trade

jack of all trades is a master of none

Prov. If you are able to do a lot of things fairly well, you will not have time to learn to do one thing extremely well. Jill: I envy Bob; he can do so many things. He writes novels, paints pictures, makes sculptures, and even plays the dulcimer. Jane: It's true he does a lot of things, but he probably doesn't do them all terribly well. A jack of all trades is a master of none, you know.

See also: master, none, trade

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a jack of all trades

someone who has many skills or who does many different jobs Bill can do plumbing, carpentry, or a bit of gardening - he's a jack of all trades, really.

See also: trade

a Jack the Lad  (British informal, old-fashioned)

a confident and not very serious young man who behaves as he wants to without thinking about other people Three children with three different women? Well, he always was a bit of a Jack the Lad.

See before can say Jack Robinson

See also: lad

before you can say Jack Robinson  (old-fashioned)

if you say that something happens before you can say Jack Robinson, it happens very suddenly I offered her a chocolate but before you could say Jack Robinson she'd eaten half the box.

See also: before, can, Robinson, say

every man jack (of us/them)  (old-fashioned) also every last man (of us/them) (old-fashioned)

every single person If you sack me the others will walk out too, every man jack of them. Every last man of us is ready to fight for their country.

See also: every, man

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jack up something also jack something up

to increase something steeply Credit card companies have jacked up interest rates on most of their accounts. The company decided to jack up the amount of protein in its animal feed.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of jack up something (to raise something using a special device called a jack)

See also: up