Jack the Ripper

British  

noun

1. an unidentified murderer who killed at least seven prostitutes in London's East End between August and November 1888

---

Jack the Ripper Cultural  

1. A criminal in London in the late nineteenth century apparently responsible for several ghastly murders by slashing. His identity is unknown.

---

Example Sentences

Page played the character Ann Cook in the film, which was based on the Jack the Ripper murders.

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026

He was Jack the Ripper in “Time After Time” in 1979; two years later, in “Time Bandits,” his character was named simply Evil Genius.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2022

In fact, here's a conspiracy theory that would have been right at home in the late 1800s: Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," was Jack the Ripper.

From Salon • Jul. 24, 2021

And speaking of Dracula, Kim Newman has been writing alternate histories with vampires ever since “Anno Dracula” made a cocktail of Victorian London, the undead and Jack the Ripper.

From Washington Post • Mar. 11, 2020

“No one even knows who Jack the Ripper really was.”

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart