Jackleg

adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Amateur, untrained; incompetent. US, not-comparable

    "1841, Letter to the editor, The Southern Planter, Volume I, No. 1, January 1841, p. 12, The next year I had a projecting kind of jack leg carpenter, from Hanover, living with me in the capacity of overseer […]"

  2. 2
    Dishonest, unscrupulous. US, not-comparable

    "The little nosy reporter with the hair was fair crazy to come, but McGinty gets a jackleg doctor to examine him an’ swear that he’s sufferin’ from spatulation o’ the medulla oblongata, housemaid’s knee, and the hives."

  3. 3
    Ineptly built or operated; makeshift. US, not-comparable

    "The train is late […]. ¶ “Well, if I come to such a place as this I must expect a jackleg railroad […].”"

Noun
  1. 1
    A type of drill operated by means of compressed air.
  2. 2
    An amateur; an untrained or incompetent person. US

    "[…] I, gentlemen and ladies, are a rale Scientificky! I ain’t none of your jack-legs."

  3. 3
    A shyster or con artist; a gambler who cheats; a generally dishonest or reprehensible person. US

    "“[…] we ain’t called on to believe every smooth-talking jackleg who wanders in here.”"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From jack + leg. Compare blackleg (“a person who replaces striking workers; a cheater”) and such expressions as jack of all trades, every man jack.

Etymology 2

From jack + leg. Compare blackleg (“a person who replaces striking workers; a cheater”) and such expressions as jack of all trades, every man jack.

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