blackjack

[blak-jak]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR blackjack ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a short, leather-covered club, consisting of a heavy head on a flexible handle, used as a weapon.

Cards.

twenty-one(def 4).
Also called natural.(in twenty-one) an ace together with a ten or a face card as the first two cards dealt.
a variety of twenty-one in which any player can become dealer.

a small oak, Quercus marilandica, of the eastern U.S., having a nearly black bark and a wood of little value except for fuel.

a large drinking cup or jug for beer, ale, etc., originally made of leather coated externally with tar.Compare bombard(def 7).

caramel or burnt sugar for coloring spirits, vinegar, coffee, etc.

Mineralogy. a dark, iron-rich variety of sphalerite.

verb (used with object)

to strike or beat with a blackjack.

to compel by threat.

Origin of blackjack

First recorded in 1505–15; black + jack¹

Pershing

[pur-shing or for 2, -zhing]

noun

John JosephBlackjack, 1860–1948, U.S. general: commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.

Military.

a 46-ton (42 metric tons) U.S. heavy tank of 1944–52, with a five-man crew and a 90mm gun.
a two-stage surface-to-surface ballistic missile.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for blackjack

intimidate, pressure, force, influence, threaten

Examples from the Web for blackjack

Contemporary Examples of blackjack

Each den of sin has its selling points, but Puerto Rican casinos make good with $5 minimums at the blackjack tables.
One First-Timer’s Adventures in Culebra and Puerto Rico
Kara Cutruzzula
March 14, 2013
Instead they keep at it, with Paul Ryan and old “Blackjack” Bennett pressing ever onward at the Values Voter Summit on Friday.
Mitt Romney’s Last-Ditch Strategy: Inflame the Base
Michael Tomasky
September 16, 2012
Did Lisa, the 40-year-old blackjack dealer in Las Vegas, call her mother in tears?
The Anthony Weiner Scandal: C’mon, America, Nobody’s Perfect
Lee Siegel
June 11, 2011
I was at the blackjack table at the Bellagio when one of my girlfriends told me the Internet was going crazy.
Meghan McCain: Let John McCain Go to Las Vegas
Meghan McCain
March 15, 2011
He talks to Ramin Setoodeh about poker, blackjack, and how he persuaded Celine to return to Vegas.
The Man Who Made Celine
Ramin Setoodeh
March 15, 2011

Historical Examples of blackjack

"On we went then," said Aylward, after a long pull at his blackjack.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
There would be a game of blackjack going on somewhere there about now.
The Martian Cabal
Roman Frederick Starzl
The fact that it had been a blackjack that had hit him was important.
Out Like a Light
Gordon Randall Garrett
I must have that girl, dad, or this town is a blackjack swamp forevermore.
The Four Million
O. Henry
"Blackjack" Donnely had made that clear in his trial in Texas.
The Penal Cluster
Ivar Jorgensen (AKA Randall Garrett)

British Dictionary definitions for blackjack

blackjack

noun

a truncheon of leather-covered lead with a flexible shaft

verb

(tr) to hit with or as if with a blackjack

(tr) to compel (a person) by threats

Word Origin for blackjack

C19: from black + jack 1 (implement)

blackjack

noun cards

pontoon or any of various similar card games

the ace of spades

Word Origin for blackjack

C20: from black + jack 1 (the knave)

blackjack

noun

a dark iron-rich variety of the mineral sphalerite

Word Origin for blackjack

C18: from black + jack 1 (originally a miner's name for this useless ore)

blackjack

⁴

noun

a small oak tree, Quercus marilandica, of the southeastern US, with blackish bark and fan-shaped leavesAlso called: blackjack oak

Word Origin for blackjack

C19: from black + jack 1 (from the proper name, popularly used in many plant names)

blackjack

⁵

noun

a tarred leather tankard or jug

Word Origin for blackjack

C16: from black + jack ³

Pershing

noun

John Joseph, nickname Black Jack. 1860–1948, US general. He was commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe (1917–19)

Pershing

noun

a US ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear or conventional warhead

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blackjack

used in many senses since 16c., earliest is possibly "tar-coated leather jug for beer" (1590s), from black (adj.) + jack in any of its many slang senses. The weapon so called from 1889; the card game by 1900.