Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
J
J — JASPACHATE
J. This letter has been added to the English Alphabet in modern days; the letter I being written formerly in words where J is now used. It seems to have had the sound of y, in many words, as it still has in the German. The English sound of this letter may be expressed by dzh, or edzh, a compound sound coinciding exactly with that of g, in genius; the French j, with the articulation d preceding it. It is the tenth letter of the English Alphabet.
JABBER, v.i. To talk rapidly or indistinctly; to chatter; to prate.
JABBER, n. Rapid talk with indistinct utterance of words.
JABBERER, n. One that talks rapidly, indistinctly or unintelligibly.
JABBERING, ppr. Prating; talking rapidly and confusedly.
JABBERMENT, n. Idle prate.
JABIRU, n. An aquatic fowl of the crane kind.
The Jabiru is the Mycteria Americana. It resembles the stork.
JACAMAR, n. A kind of fowls arranged by Linne under the genus Alcedo; but their toes are differently placed, and their food consists of insects. They are about the size of a lark. Numerous species are described.
The Jacamars are arranged in a separate genus, Galbula, and along with the woodpeckers in the order of climbers.
JACENT, a. [L. jacens, jaceo, to lie.] Lying at length.
JACINTH, n. [a different orthography of Hyacinth.]
1. A genus of plants. [See Hyacinth.]
2. A species of pellucid gems. [See Hyacinth.] Revelation 21:20.
JACK, n.
1. A nickname or diminutive of John, used as a general term of contempt for any saucy of paltry fellow.
2. The name of an instrument that supplies the place of a boy; an instrument to pull off boots.
3. An engine to turn a spit; as a kitchen jack; a smoke jack.
4. A young pike.
5. A coat of mail.
6. A pitcher of waxed leather.
7. A small bowl thrown out for a mark to the bowlers.
8. Part of a musical instrument called a virginal.
9. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.
10. A horse or wooden frame on which wood or timer is sawed.
11. In sea-language, a flag, ensign or colors, displayed from a staff on the end of a bow-sprit.
12. In Yorkshire, half a pint. A quarter of a pint.
Jack of all trades, a person who can turn his hand to any king of business.
Jack by the hedge, a plant of the genus Erysimum, that grown under hedges.
Jack in a box, a plant of the genus Hernandia.
1. A large wooden male screw, turning in a female one.
Jack with a lantern, an ignis fatuus, a meteor that appears in low moist lands.
Jack of the clock-house, a little man that strikes the quarters in a clock.
JACKALENT, n. [Jack in lent, a poor starved fellow.]
A simple sheepish fellow.
JACKANAPES, n. [jack and ape.] A monkey, an ape.
1. A coxcomb; an impertinent fellow.
A young upstart jackanapes.
JACKASS, n. The male of the ass.
JACK-BLOCK, n. A block attached to the top-gallant-tie of a ship, to sway up or to strike the yard.
JACKBOOTS, n. Boots that serve as armor for the legs.
JACKDAW, n. [jack and daw.] A fowl of the genus Corvus, thievish and mischievous to the farmer.
JACKFLAG, n. A flag hoisted at the sprit-sail top-mast-head.
JACKPUDDING, n. [jack and pudding.] A merry Andrew; a buffoon; a zany.
JACKSMITH, n. A smith who makes jacks for the chimney.
JACKAL, n. An animal of the genus Canis, resembling a dog and a fox; a native of Asia and Africa. It preys on poultry and other small animals. It is the Canis aureus of Linne.
JACKET, n. A short close garment worn by males, extending downwards to the hips; a short coat.
JACKETED, a. Wearing a jacket.
JACOBIN, n. [So named from the place of meeting, which was the monastery of the monks called Jacobines.]
The Jacobins, in France, during the late revolution, were a society of violent revolutionists, who held secret meetings in which measures were concerted to direct the proceedings of the National Assembly. Hence, a Jacobin is the member of a club, or other person, who opposes government in a secret and unlawful manner or by violent means; a turbulent demagogue.
JACOBINE, n. A monk of the order of Dominicans.
1. A pigeon with a high tuft.
JACOBINIC, JACOBINICAL, a. Resembling the Jacobins of France; turbulent; discontented with government; holding democratic principles.
JACOBINISM, n. Jacobinic principles; unreasonable or violent opposition to legitimate government; an attempt to overthrow or change government by secret cabals or irregular means; popular turbulence.
JACOBINIZE, v.t. To taint with Jacobinism.
JACOBITE, n. [from Jacobus, James.] A partizan or adherent of James II, king of England, after he abdicated the throne, and of his descendants; of course, an opposer of the revolution in 1688, in favor of William and Mary.
1. One of a sect of christians in Syria and Mesopotamia, who hold that Jesus Christ had but one nature.
JACOBITE, a. Pertaining to the partizans of James II.
JACOBITISM, n. The principles of the partizans of James II.
JACOB’S-LADDER, n. A plant of the genus Polemonium.
JACOB’S-STAFF, n. A pilgrim’s staff.
1. A staff concealing a dagger.
2. A cross staff; a kind of astrolabe.
JACOBUS, n. [Jacobus, James.] A gold coin, value twenty-five shillings sterling, struck in the reign of James I.
JACONET, n. A kind of coarse muslin.
JACTANCY, n. [L. jactantia.] A boasting. [Not used.]
JACTITATION, n. [L. jactito, jacto. It ought rather to be jactation, L. jactatio.]
1. A tossing of the body; restlessness.
2. A term in the canon law for a false pretension to marriage; vain boasting.
JACULATE, v.t. [L. jaculor.] To dart.
JACULATION, n. The action of darting, throwing or lanching, as missive weapons.
JACULATOR, n. The shooting fish, a species of Chaetodon.
JACULATORY, a. Darting or throwing out suddenly, or suddenly thrown out; uttered in short sentences. [See Ejaculatory.]
JADE, n.
1. A mean or poor horse; a tired horse; a worthless nag.
Tired as a jade in overloaden cart.
2. A mean woman; a word of contempt, noting sometimes age, but generally vice.
She shines the first of battered jades.
3. A young woman; in irony or slight contempt.
JADE, n. A mineral called also nephrite or nephritic stone, remarkable for its hardness and tenacity, of a color more or less green, and of a resinous or oily aspect when polished. It is fusible into a glass or enamel. Cleveland divides jade into three subspecies, nephrite, saussurite, and axestone. It is found in detached masses or inhering in rocks.
JADE, v.t. To tire; to fatigue; to weary with hard service; as, to jade a horse.
1. To weary with attention or study; to tire.
The mind once jaded by an attempt above its power, is very hardly brought to exert its force again.
2. To harass; to crush.
3. To tire or wear out in mean offices; as a jaded groom.
4. To ride; to rule with tyranny.
I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me.
JADE, v.i. To become weary; to lose spirit; to sink.
They are promising in the beginning, but they fail and jade and tire in the prosecution.
JADED, pp. Tired; wearied; fatigued; harassed.
JADERY, n. The tricks of a jade.
JADING, ppr. Tiring; wearying; harassing.
JADISH, a. Vitious; bad, like a jade.
1. Unchaste.
JAG, n. A small load.
JAGG, v.t. To notch; to cut into notches or teeth like those of a saw.
JAGG, JAG, n. A tooth of a saw; a denticulation. In botany, a cleft or division.
JAGGED, pp. Notched; uneven.
1. Having notches or teeth; cleft; divided; laciniate; as jagged leaves.
JAGGEDNESS, n. The state of being denticulated; unevenness.
JAGGING, ppr. Notching; cutting into teeth; dividing.
JAGGY, a. Set with teeth; denticulated; uneven.
JAGUAR, n. The American tiger, or once of Brasil, belonging to the genus Felis.
JAH, n. Jehovah.
JAIL, n. A prison; a building or place for the confinement of persons arrested for debt or for crime, and held in the custody of the sheriff.
JAILBIRD, n. A prisoner; one who has been confined in prison.
JAILER, n. The keeper of a prison.
JAILFEVER, n. A contagious and fatal fever generated in jails and other places crowded with people.
JAKES, n. [L. jacio, to throw.] A house of office or back-house; a privy.
JALAP, n. The root of a plant, a species of Convolvulus. It is brought in thin transverse slices, and also whole, of an oval shape, hard, solid and heavy. It has little or no taste or smell, but is much used in powder as a cathartic.
JAM, n. A conserve of fruits boiled with sugar and water.
1. A kind of frock for children.
JAM, v.t.
1. To press; to crowd; to wedge in.
2. In England, to tread hard or make firm by treading, as land by cattle.
JAM, JAMB, n. Among the lead miners of Mendip, a thick bed of stone which hinders them when pursuing the veins of ore.
JAMB, n. jam. In architecture, a supporter; the side-piece or post of a door; the side-piece of a fireplace.
JAMBEE, n. A name formerly given to a fashionable cane.
JAMBEUX, n. [supra.] Armor for the legs.
JANE, n. A coin of Genoa.
1. A kind of fustian.
JANGLE, v.i. To quarrel in words; to altercate; to bicker; to wrangle.
JANGLE, v.t. To cause to sound untunably or discordantly.
--E’er monkish rhymes
Had jangl’d their fantastic chimes.
JANGLER, n. A wrangling, noisy fellow.
JANGLING, ppr. Wrangling; quarreling; sounding discordantly.
JANGLING, n. A noisy dispute; a wrangling.
JANITOR, n. [L.] A door-keeper; a porter.
JANIZARIAN, n. Pertaining to the Janizaries, or their government.
JANIZARY, n. A soldier of the Turkish foot guards. The Janizaries were a body of infantry, and reputed the grand Seignor’s guards. They became turbulent, and rising in arms against the Sultan, were attacked, defeated and destroyed in Constantinople, in June 1826.
JANNOCK, n. Oat-bread. [Local.]
JANSENISM, n. The doctrine of Jansen in regard to free will and grace.
JANSENIST, n. A follower of Jansen, bishop of Ypres, in Flanders.
JANT, v.i. To ramble here and there; to make an excursion.
J`ANT, n. An excursion; a ramble; a short journey.
JANTILY, adv. [from janty.] Briskly; airily; gayly.
JANTINESS, n. Airiness; flutter; briskness.
JANTY, a. Airy, showy; fluttering; finical.
JANUARY, n. [L. januarius; L. geno, to beget, Eng. to begin.]
The first month of the year, according to the present computation. At the foundation of Rome, March was considered the first month. January and February were introduced by Numa Pompilius.
JAPAN, n. [from the country in Asia, so called.]
This name is given to work varnished and figured in the manner practiced by the natives of Japan.
JAPAN-EARTH, n. Catechu, a combination of gummy and resinous matter, obtained from the juice of a species of palm tree.
Japan-earth or catechu, is obtained by decoction and evaporation from a species of Mimosa. It consists chiefly of tannin combined with a peculiar species of extractive.
JAPAN, v.t. To varnish in the manner of the Japanese.
1. To black and gloss, as in blacking shoes or boots.
JAPANESE, a. Pertaining to Japan or its inhabitants.
JAPANESE, n. A native of Japan; or the language of the inhabitants.
JAPANNED, pp. Varnished in a particular manner.
JAPANNER, n. One who varnishes in the manner of the Japanese, or one skilled in the art.
1. A shoe-blacker.
JAPANNING, ppr. Varnishing in the manner of the Japanese; giving a glossy black surface.
JAPANNING, n. The art of varnishing and drawing figures on wood or other material, in the manner practiced by the Japanese.
JAPE, v.i. To jest.
JAPE, v.t. To cheat.
JAPE, n. A jest; a trick.
JAPER, n. A jester.
JAPHETIC, a. Pertaining to Japheth, the eldest son of Noah; as the Japhetic nations, which people the North of Asia and all Europe; Japhetic languages.
JAPU, n. A bird of Brazil that suspends its nest.
JAR, v.i. To strike together with a short rattle or tremulous sound; to strike untunably or harshly; to strike discordantly; as a jarring sound.
A string may jar in the best master’s hand.
1. To clash; to interfere; to act in opposition; to be inconsistent.
For orders and degrees
Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
2. To quarrel; to dispute; to clash in words.
3. To vibrate regularly; to repeat the same sound.
J`AR, v.t. To shake; to cause to tremble; to cause a short tremulous motion in a thing.
J`AR, n. A rattling vibration of sound; a shake; as a trembling jar.
1. A harsh sound; discord.
2. Clash of interest or opinions; collision; discord; debate.
And yet his peace is but continual jar.
3. The state of a door half open, or ready to move and strike the post.
4. Repetition of the noise made by the pendulum of a clock.
J`AR, n. A vessel with a large belly and broad mouth, made of earth or glass; as a jar of honey.
We say, an electrical battery of nine jars.
1. A certain measure; as a jar of oil.
JARARACA, n. A species of serpent in America, seldom exceeding 18 inches in length, having prominent veins on its head, and of a dusky brownish color, variegated with red and black spots. It is very poisonous.
JARBLE, JAVEL, v.t. To bemire. [Not in use.]
JARDES, n. Callous tumors on the legs of a horse, below the bend of the ham on the outside.
JARGLE, v.i. To emit a harsh or shrill sound. [Not in use.]
JARGON, n.
1. Confused, unintelligible talk or language; gabble; gibberish; cant.
All jargon of the schools.
2. A mineral, usually of a gray or greenish white color, in small irregular grains, or crystallized in quadrangular prisms surmounted with pyramids, or in octahedrons consisting of double quadrangular prisms. [See Zircon.]
JARGONELLE, n. jargonel’. A species of pear.
JARGONIC, a. Pertaining to the mineral jargon.
JARRED, pp. [from jar.] Shaken.
JARRING, ppr. Shaking; making a harsh sound; discordant.
JARRING, n. A shaking; discord; dispute; collision.
JASHAWK, n. A young hawk.
JASMIN, JASMINE, n. [It is sometimes written in English jessamine.]
A plant of the genus Jasminum, bearing beautiful flowers. There are several species. The common white jasmin is a climbing shrub, rising on supports 15 or 20 feet high. The name is also given to several plants of different genera; as the Arabian Jasmin, of the genus Nyctanthes; the bastard Jasmin, of the genus Cestrum, and also of the genus Lycium; the Persian Jasmin, of the genus Syringa; the red Jasmin, of the genus Plumeria; the scarlet and yellow Jasmin, of the genus Bignonia, etc.