jakes

[ jeyks ]

noun(usually used with a plural verb)Chiefly Dialect.
  1. an outdoor privy; outhouse.

  2. a toilet or bedpan.

Origin of jakes

1
1525–35; <French Jacques, proper name; cf. john

Words Nearby jakes

Other definitions for Jakes (2 of 2)

Jakes
[ jeyks ]

noun
  1. John, 1932–2023, U.S. novelist noted for historical fiction: pen names include Jay Scotland.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use jakes in a sentence

  • An old woman—Molly jakes, we will call her—died, or was thought to have died, and was buried by the parish.

  • He pulled back the jerky shaky door of the jakes and came forth from the gloom into the air.

    Ulysses | James Joyce
  • High Street was thronged with people, mostly country-jakes who had come to town with their wagons and buggies for the celebration.

    A Boy's Town | W. D. Howells
  • Ellen Mary jakes exhibited no superiority over her sisters in the matter of throwing a cricket ball.

    The Wonder | J. D. Beresford
  • Sometimes it was Mr. jakes, a depressed little man whose wife had left him, for no special reason he could discover.

    T. Tembarom | Frances Hodgson Burnett

British Dictionary definitions for jakes

jakes

/ (dʒeɪks) /


noun
  1. an archaic slang word for lavatory

  2. Southwest English dialect human excrement

Origin of jakes

1
C16: probably from French Jacques James

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