Chapter J to Jack of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

It is made to revolve by the upward current of smoke and air.
   (12) Jack-chain. A small chain for turning the spit of a smoke-jack.
   V. APPLIED TO INFERIOR ARTICLES which bear the same relation to the thing imitated as Jack does to a gentleman.
   (1) Jack. A rough stool or wooden horse for sawing timber on.
   (2) Jack. A small drinking vessel made of waxed leather.

"Body of me, I am dry still; give me the jack, boy." - Beaumont and Fletcher: Bloody Brother, ii. 2.

   (3) Jack. Inferior kind of armour. (See Jack, No. VIII.)
   (4) A Jack and a half-jack. Counters resembling a sovereign and a half-sovereign. Used at gaming-tables to make up a show of wealth.
   (5) Jack-block. A block attached to the topgallant-tie of a ship.
   (6) Jack-boots. Cumbrous boots of tough, thick leather worn by fishermen. Jacks or armour for the legs.
   (7) Jack-pan. A vessel used by barbers for heating water for their customers.
   (8) Jack-plane. A menial plane to do the rough work for finer instruments.
   (9) Jack-rafter. A rafter in a hipped roof, shorter than a full-sized one.
   (10) Jack-rib. An inferior rib in an arch, being shorter than the rest.
   (11) Jack-screw. A large screw rotating in a threaded socket, used for lifting heavy weights.
   (12) Jack-timbers. Timbers in a building shorter than the rest.
   (13) Jack-towel. A coarse, long towel hung on a roller, for the servants' use.
   (14) Jack of Dover (q.v.).
   (15) Jacket (q.v.).
   (16) Black jack. A huge drinking vessel. A Frenchman speaking of it says, "The English drink out of their boots." (Heywood.)
   VI. A TERM OF CONTEMPT.
   (1) Jack-a-lantern or Jack-o'-lantern, the fool fire (ignis fatuus).
   (2) Jack-ass. An unmitigated fool.
   (3) Jack-at-bowls. The butt of all the players.
   (4) Jack- daw. A prating nuisance.
   (5) Jack Drum's entertainment (q.v).
   (6) Jackey. A monkey.
   (7) Skip-jack. A toy, an upstart.
   (8) The black jack. The turnip-fly.
   (9) The yellow jack. The yellow fever.
   VII. USED IN PROVERBIAL PHRASES.
    A good Jack makes a good Jill. A good husband makes a good wife, a good master makes a good servant. Jack, a generic name for man, husband, or master; and Gill or Jill, his wife or female servant.
   Every Jack shall have his Jill. Every man may find a wife if he likes; or rather, every country rustic shall find a lass to be his mate.

"Jack shall have his Jill,
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well."
Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2.

   To play the Jack. To play the rogue or knave; to deceive or lead astray like Jack-o'- lantern, or ignis fatuus.

" - your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us." - Shakespeare: Tempest, iv. 1.

   To be upon their jacks. To have the advantage over one. The reference is to the coat of mail quilted with stout leather, more recently called a jerkin.
   VIII. Jack Armour consisting of a leather surcoat worn over the hauberk, from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, both inclusive. It was formed by overlapping pieces of steel fastened by one edge upon canvas, coated over with cloth or velvet. In short, it was a surcoat padded with metal to make it sword-proof. These jazerines were worn by the peasantry of the English borders when they journeyed from place to place, and in their skirmishes with moss-troopers.

"Jackes quilted and covered over with leather, fustian, or canvas, over thicke plates of iron that are sowed to the same." - Lily: Euphues.

    Colonel Jack. The hero of Defoe's novel so called. He is a thief who goes to Virginia, and becomes the owner of vast plantations and a family of slaves.