jackanapes
Americannoun
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an impertinent, presumptuous person, especially a young man; whippersnapper.
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an impudent, mischievous child.
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Archaic. an ape or monkey.
noun
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a conceited impertinent person
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a mischievous child
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archaic a monkey
Etymology
Origin of jackanapes
1400–50; late Middle English Jakken-apes, literally, jack (i.e., man) of the ape, nickname of William de la Pole (1396–1450), Duke of Suffolk, whose badge was an ape's clog and chain
Explanation
A jackanapes is a smart-mouthed, rascally person. You might be tempted to call your babysitting charge a jackanapes after he locks you out of the house for the third time. Jackanapes is a colorful but very old fashioned way to describe a rascal or a whippersnapper. Your great-grandfather might shake his cane and yell, "Get off my lawn, you jackanapes!" when the neighbor kids lose their basketball in his yard, but they're unlikely to know what the word means. Jackanapes is from the fifteenth century, and it's thought to come from the phrase "Jack of Naples," or to have some connection to the word apes, but experts are uncertain.
Vocabulary lists containing jackanapes
Murder on the Orient Express
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"The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Gogol
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O'Reilly's Lexicon of Epithets
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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.
Indeed, “those jackanapes Mets,” as the New Yorker’s Roger Angell called them, have long been celebrated for treating baseball as a kind of never-ending fraternity hazing.
From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2020
Other words Mr Bercow has used that other MPs have said extremely rarely, or never, include: "Demosthenian, "Einsteinian, "Flaubert", "Heidegger", "irascibility", "jackanapes", "rhapsodise", "susurrations" and "testicle".
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2019
As the solemn Whig lad, David Balfour of Shaws, 14-year-old Freddie Bartholomew may be a shade on the jackanapes side for those who want their Stevenson straight, but he fits this feckless Fox version.
From Time Magazine Archive
Foreign Affairs Mischa Auer, gangling, rubber-faced, Russian-born cinema jackanapes, was removed from the vice-presidency of the Russian-American club of Los Angeles.
From Time Magazine Archive
At this uncomfortable juncture, I perceived with no little confusion that Bono watched us, grinning a wide, jackanapes smile; which cajolery threw me into more distress.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
