jack-in-office

British  

noun

1. a self-important petty official

---

Example Sentences

He was equally fine as Malvolio: a preening, stiff-gaited jack-in-office who, like all first-rate Malvolios, enlisted one's sympathy in his downfall.

From The Guardian • Feb. 18, 2013

But last week Franz Josef Strauss was learning firsthand the full depth of West Germans' postwar distaste for jack-in-office arrogance.

From Time Magazine Archive

But between a "wise administrator" and a "jack-in-office" there is all the difference in the world.

From Loyal to the School by Brazil, Angela

This jack-in-office, a very Dogberry, encountered Moll returning down Ludgate Hill from some merry-making, a lanthorn carried pompously before her.

From A Book of Scoundrels by Whibley, Charles

We can easily imagine the high-and-mighty jack-in-office he must have been in Adolph's time.

From Richard Wagner Composer of Operas by Runciman, John F.