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jack-tar

American  
[jak-tahr] / ˈdʒækˈtɑr /
Or Jack Tar

noun

  1. a sailor.


Jack Tar British  

noun

  1. literary a sailor

"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

Etymology

Origin of jack-tar

First recorded in 1775–85

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:

Not many days are required to restore Shiloh to his best blithe spirits and make of him an astonishingly tough and adept jack-tar.

From Time Magazine Archive

So he got himself transferred to another boat that was about to sail for the West Indies, and took the rough service that falls to the lot of a jack-tar.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers by Elbert Hubbard

Somehow it has come to be supposed or assumed that a jack-tar cannot ride.

From Charlie to the Rescue by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

"It ought not to have been loose, and there is a bit of discipline for some jack-tar."

From Four Young Explorers or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics by A. B. Shute

A jolly jack-tar, having strayed into Atkin's show at Bartholomew Fair, to have a look at the wild beasts, was much struck with the sight of a lion and a tiger in the same den.

From Heads and Tales : or, Anecdotes and Stories of Quadrupeds and Other Beasts, Chiefly Connected with Incidents in the Histories of More or Less Distinguished Men. by Adam White

The Navy was at the centre of national life - politically powerful and a major cultural force as well, with images of the jolly sailor Jack Tar used to sell everything from cigarettes to postcards.

From BBC Jun. 2, 2014

The mysterious figure of Old Jack Tar, who acts as sage and mentor to Harry, is also based on a real person, this time the much-decorated British army officer Tommy Macpherson.

From Reuters May 12, 2011

Notable this week was his full-page panegyric of " Jack Tar Togs " in the Saturday Evening Post.

From Time Magazine Archive

They announced that Jack Tar will not have to take the 25% wage cut he mutinously refused; but he must take, added the Lords of Admiralty, a 10% cut.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mother and Aunt I pine to see, and the honest Jack Tar of the family, the rough Bob, with his rude untutored ways!

From Notes of a Son and Brother by Henry James

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