Chapter Jane Eyre to Jeames of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Jarnac Coup de Jarnac. A peculiar stroke of the sword by which the opponent is ham-strung. `The allusion is to the duel between Jarnac and La Châteigneraie,on July 10th, 1547, in the presence of Henri II., when Jarnac dealt his adversary such a blow, from which he died.

Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. An interminable Chancery suit in Dickens's Bleak House. The character of Jarndyce is that of a kind-hearted, easy fellow, who is half ashamed that his left hand should know what his right hand gives.

Jarvey A hackney-coach driver. Said to be a contraction of Geoffrey; and the reason why this name was selected was because coachmen say to their horses gee-o, and Ge-o' is a contraction of Geoffrey. Ballantine says, that one Jarvis, a noted hackney-coachman who was hanged, was the original Jarvey.
   A Jarvey's benjamin. A coachman's great-coat. (See Benjamin.)

Jarvie (Baillie Nicol). A Glasgow magistrate in Scott's Rob Roy. He is petulant, conceited, purse-proud, without tact, and intensely prejudiced, but sincere and kind-hearted.

Jaundice (2 syl.) A jaundiced eye. A prejudiced eye which sees "faults that are not." It was a popular belief among the Romans that to the eye of a person who had the jaundice everything looked of a yellow tinge. (French, jaune, yellow.)

"All seems infected that th' infected spy,
As all seems yellow to the jaundiced eye."
Pope: Essay on Criticism.

Javan [clay ]. Son of Japheth. In most Eastern languages it is the collective name of the Greeks, and is to be so understood in Isa. lxvi. 19, and Ezek. xxvii. 13.
   In the World Before the Flood, by James Montgomery, Javan is the hero. On the day of his birth his father died, and Javan remained in the "patriarch's glen" under his mother's care, till she also died. Then he resolved to see the world, and sojourned for ten years with the race of Cain, where he became the disciple of Jubal, noted for his musical talents. At the expiration of that time he returned, penitent, to the patriarch's glen, where Zillah, daughter of Enoch, "won the heart to Heaven denied." The giants invaded the glen, and carried off the little band captives. Enoch reproved the giants, who would have slain him in their fury, but they could not find him, "for he walked with God." As he ascended through the air his mantle fell on Javan, who, "smiting with it as he moved along," brought the captives safely back to the glen again. A tempest broke forth of so fearful a nature that the giant army fled in a panic, and their king was slain by some treacherous blow given by some unknown hand.

Javanese (3 syl.). A native of Java, anything pertaining to Java.

Javert An officer of police, the impersonation of inexorable law in Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo.

Jaw Words of complaint; wrangling, abuse, jabber. "To jaw," to annoy with words, to jabber, wrangle, or abuse. The French gueule and gueuler are used in the same manner.
   Hold your jaw. Hold your tongue or jabber.
   What are you jawing about? What are you jabbering or wrangling about?
   A break-jaw word. A very long word, or one hard to pronounce.

Ja-wab The refusal of an offer of marriage. Thus when one lady says to another that "Mr. A. B. has got his jawab," she means that he made her an offer of marriage, but was refused. (Calcutta slang.)

Jawbone (2 syl.). Credit, promises. (Jaw, words or talk; bon, good.)

Jay (A). A wanton.

"This jay of Italy ... hath betrayed him."
- Shakespeare: Othello, v. 2.

Jay A plunger; one who spends his money recklessly; a simpleton. This is simply the letter J, the initial letter of Juggins, who, in 1887, made a fool of himself by losses on the turf.

Jazey A wig; a corruption of Jersey, and so called because they are made of Jersey flax and fine wool.