jackleg
Americanadjective
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unskilled or untrained for one's work; amateur.
a jackleg electrician.
-
unscrupulous or without the accepted standards of one's profession.
a jackleg lawyer.
-
makeshift; temporary.
noun
Etymology
Origin of jackleg
1840–50, perhaps jack 1 + (black)leg
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.
They are developing local tourism, every March hosting a popular Apache Leap Mining Festival that includes a parade, chihuahua races and a mining competition with hand-sawing and jackleg drilling contests.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
There’s the jackleg, where competitors use a six-foot-long hydraulic drill bit to see who can bore the deepest.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2011
Jackson has always combined the moral clarity of a prophet with the grubby opportunism of a jackleg preacher.
From Time Magazine Archive
Her hero, John Jackson Cozad. was indeed a wily gentleman jackleg, but a green baize tabletop never confined his instinct for conquest.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Well, explain fully what you understand a jackleg carpenter to be," insisted the lawyer.
From Toasts and Forms of Public Address for Those Who Wish to Say the Right Thing in the Right Way by William Pittenger
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
