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Jackanapes
Definitions
- 1 (A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet. obsolete
"To iettynge, to iaggynge, and to full of iapes; / To mockynge, to mowynge, to lye a iackenapes: […]"
- 2 plural of jackanape form-of, plural
- 3 someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous wordnet
- 4 (A proper name for) a person thought to behave like an ape or monkey, for example, in being impudent, mischievous, vain, etc.; specifically (chiefly humorous), an impudent or mischievous child. broadly, dated, derogatory
"I [Aye], quoth Jack a napes, by these ten bones, / Nothing happens amiss to a præparid minde, / Tis good philosophy, katt will to kinde."
- 5 A crucifix. broadly, derogatory, obsolete, rare
"I wyl rather haue these knees pared of, then I wil kneele to yonder iacknapes (meaning the rode) God healpe me I am borne to trouble and aduersity in this world."
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- 6 A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine. broadly, obsolete
Etymology
From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”), probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, monkey”) + -s (possibly modelled after surnames such as Hobbes and Jakkes), referring to Suffolk’s heraldic badge which was an ape’s chain and clog (“weight such as a block of wood or log attached to an animal to hinder motion”) (see the image, right). It is uncertain whether the word was first coined as a nickname for Suffolk (the earliest known uses), or to refer to an ape or an ape-like person. If the word was originally a nickname, some early uses of etymology 1 sense 2.1 (“person thought to behave like an ape or monkey”) may allude to Suffolk who was widely regarded as an upstart, having risen from the merchant class. In later uses, the middle element of the word was often treated as the indefinite article a or an, that is, as if the word meant “Jack, an ape”.
From jackanape + -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns).
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