jacks
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of jacks
C19: shortened from jackstones , variant of checkstones pebbles
Explanation
Jacks is a children's game in which you bounce a small ball and quickly scoop up game pieces. There's evidence that some form of jacks was even played in ancient Greece. Jacks goes by many names, including "knucklebones" and "fivestones." The original version was played with small stones, which were closely related to dice, and invented around the same time. In modern jacks, a player drops ten metal star-shaped pieces and then tries to scoop them up — first one at a time, then two at a time, and so on — after bouncing a ball, which is then caught before it hits the ground.
Vocabulary lists containing jacks
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.
Outside his neighborhood, dozens of freshly painted jacks stand out along the roadside, their bright colors contrasting with the deteriorating streets nearby.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Unauthorised displays of union jacks and St George crosses started appearing around the country last year, including the West Midlands, with various groups behind the movement.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
And if Russia attacks Eastern Europe, the war with Iran drives oil to $150 a barrel, the U.S. jacks up tariffs again or the dollar rises sharply against the euro, Old World stocks will suffer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
That includes Iran, which is straining under a historic drought made worse by years of mismanagement, while climate change jacks up temperatures and reduces rainfall.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
“We better. Like things weren’t bad enough without losing our other Berg. Those jacks in Alaska couldn’t care less about us. Now that everything’s gone weird, I bet we don’t even hear from them again.”
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
