cheap-jack

American  

[cheep-jak] / ˈtʃipˌdʒæk /

Also cheapjack,

noun

1. a peddler, especially of inferior articles.

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adjective

1. of or suitable for a cheap-jack; cheap or inferior.

2. without scruples or principles; underhanded.

   using cheap-jack methods to evict tenants.

cheap-jack British  

noun

1. a person who sells cheap and shoddy goods

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adjective

1. shoddy or inferior

Etymology

Origin of cheap-jack

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Then again, it might be another cheap-jack moment waiting to take you down.

From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2012

The object of Stendhal's satire is the cheap-jack kingery of Louis Philippe�that "crowned calculating machine"�and the belowstairs thimblerigging of the corrupt, bureaucrazed regime through which he misgoverned France.

From Time Magazine Archive

He saw a whole street of Florence, including the quarters of Donatello and Bronzino, torn down to make room for a cheap-jack row of shops devoted to "bijouterie and parfumerie."

From Time Magazine Archive

On the Place Arago he halted on the fringe of a crowd surrounding a cheap-jack whose vociferations he drowned in a roll of thunder.

From The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol by Ball, Alec

Anyhow, yours is nothing but a cheap-jack establishment.

From The German Classics, v. 20 Masterpieces of German Literature by Various