jake
1 Americanadjective
noun
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a homemade or bootleg liquor made from or infused with Jamaica ginger, especially during Prohibition in the U.S.
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Also called jake-leg paralysis, jake leg;. paralysis caused by drinking this or other liquor made with denatured alcohol.
noun
adjective
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satisfactory; all right
-
everything is under control
Etymology
Origin of jake1
First recorded in 1895–1900; origin uncertain
Origin of jake2
1925–30, apparently alteration of Jamaica (ginger) ( def. )
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.
See Examples For:
His first name was John or jake or something.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2016
As the old Ira Gershwin lyric put it: Comes the revolution, all is jake / Comes the revolution, we'll be eating cake.
From Chicago Tribune ● Nov. 19, 2014
Scarlett puts her right hand on jake face.Scarlett: “don’t cry it’s going to over I promised you will be fine, close your eyes and takes a dream with pretty girl”.http://azmalhome.wordpress.com/
From Time ● May 6, 2013
For example, he peppers the text with one-paragraph comments expressed in the transatlantic slang favoured by Owens: "humdinger"; "right hot"; "absolute jake".
From The Guardian ● Jan. 4, 2013
“You only need that high school degree if you’re striking for college. I’m doing absolutely jake without it.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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BBC Verify's Jake Horton has looked into the facts and figures.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Her life has been destroyed,” her attorney Thomas Giuffra told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Jake should’ve pulled a number out of the Bob Marley playbook when he forced rival political Jamaican leaders to join him on stage and greet each other.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The company sits at the intersection of two of the market’s main themes: the durability of AI spending and a recent concentration in market leadership, Jake Behan, Direxion’s head of capital markets, told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 27, 2026
Actually, Jake had finished his in ten minutes after he got home, which was another major surprise.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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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.