jackanapes
Americannoun
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an impertinent, presumptuous person, especially a young man; whippersnapper.
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an impudent, mischievous child.
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Archaic. an ape or monkey.
noun
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a conceited impertinent person
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a mischievous child
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archaic a monkey
Etymology
Origin of jackanapes
1400–50; late Middle English Jakken-apes, literally, jack (i.e., man) of the ape, nickname of William de la Pole (1396–1450), Duke of Suffolk, whose badge was an ape's clog and chain
Explanation
A jackanapes is a smart-mouthed, rascally person. You might be tempted to call your babysitting charge a jackanapes after he locks you out of the house for the third time. Jackanapes is a colorful but very old fashioned way to describe a rascal or a whippersnapper. Your great-grandfather might shake his cane and yell, "Get off my lawn, you jackanapes!" when the neighbor kids lose their basketball in his yard, but they're unlikely to know what the word means. Jackanapes is from the fifteenth century, and it's thought to come from the phrase "Jack of Naples," or to have some connection to the word apes, but experts are uncertain.
Vocabulary lists containing jackanapes
Murder on the Orient Express
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"The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Gogol
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O'Reilly's Lexicon of Epithets
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Elon Musk of today seems to be angling for the trophy of World’s Biggest Jackanapes.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2022
Alas, just as I was winding up this column, I received a package from Jackanapes Press containing Adam Bolivar’s “The Ettinfell of Beacon Hill: Gothic Tales of Boston,” which is said to be terrific.
From Washington Post • Oct. 18, 2021
Jackanapes could hear them as he lay in bed, and could hardly sleep for speculating what booths and whirligigs he should find fairly established, when he and his dog Spitfire went out after breakfast.
From Jackanapes by Sacker, Amy
A confounded ungrateful dandy Jackanapes captain of a seventy-four-gun ship!
From Syd Belton The Boy who would not go to Sea by Browne, Gordon
Tony Johnson had no more natural taste for fighting than for riding, but he was as devoted as ever to Jackanapes.
From Children's Literature A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes by Clippinger, Erle Elsworth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
