jakes

[jeyks]

noun (usually used with a plural verb) Chiefly Dialect.

an outdoor privy; outhouse.
a toilet or bedpan.

Origin of jakes

1525–35; < French Jacques, proper name; cf. john

Jakes

[jeyks]

noun

John,born 1932, U.S. novelist.

jake

[jeyk]

noun Slang.

a homemade or bootleg liquor made from or infused with Jamaica ginger, especially during Prohibition in the U.S.
Also called jake leg, jake-leg paralysis. paralysis caused by drinking this or other liquor made with denatured alcohol.

Origin of jake

1925–30, Americanism; apparently alteration of Jamaica (ginger)

Jake

[jeyk]

noun

a male given name, form of Jacob.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for jakes

bumpkin, lout, buffoon, clodhopper, boor, hillbilly, hayseed, yokel, hick, dolt, rube, oaf, bucolic, hind, blockhead, yahoo, gawk, chuff, rustic, peasant

Examples from the Web for jakes

Contemporary Examples of jakes

Jakes is not alone in believing that your family must stay your family no matter how hurtful or dysfunctional they may be.
Should You Divorce Your Family After the Holidays?
Keli Goff
January 2, 2014
Jakes says he believes in the axiom that the act of forgiveness is not really a gift to others as much as it is a gift to oneself.
Bishop T.D. Jakes on His New Book and Whitney Houston’s Death
Allison Samuels
March 10, 2012
Jakes has spoken about the issue so much that he decided a full-length book on the art of forgiveness was required.
Bishop T.D. Jakes on His New Book and Whitney Houston’s Death
Allison Samuels
March 10, 2012
Jakes says he shared a short but unique bond with Houston that developed on the set of Sparkle late last year.
Bishop T.D. Jakes on His New Book and Whitney Houston’s Death
Allison Samuels
March 10, 2012
"I've made a few good friends over the years," says Jakes with a laugh on the phone from his Texas home.
Inside Jumping the Broom's Surprise Success
Allison Samuels
May 12, 2011

Historical Examples of jakes

Nice lot of Hungry Jakes to feed with int'rest-bearin' securities!
Torchy
Sewell Ford
He was dead and cold, Jakes, and you may as well know it fust as last.
Rosin the Beau
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
To Jakes adoring eyes it was as the halo about the head of a patron saint.
Deering of Deal
Latta Griswold
But among them was not Mr. Jakes, though he needed a stimulus as much as any.
Perlycross
R. D. Blackmore
Now Sergeant Jakes was not allowed to chastise any boys on Sunday.
Perlycross
R. D. Blackmore

British Dictionary definitions for jakes

jakes

noun

an archaic slang word for lavatory
Southwest English dialect human excrement

Word Origin for jakes

C16: probably from French Jacques James

jake

adjective Australian and NZ slang

satisfactory; all right
she's jake everything is under control

Word Origin for jake

probably from the name Jake

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jakes

"a privy," mid-15c., genitive singular of jack (n.).

Jake

colloquial or familiar abbreviation of the masc. proper name Jacob (q.v.). As the typical name of a rustic lout, from 1854. (Jakey still is the typical name for "an Amishman" among the non-Amish of Pennsylvania Dutch country). Slang meaning "excellent, fine" is from 1914, American English, of unknown origin.