jake
1 Americanadjective
noun
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a homemade or bootleg liquor made from or infused with Jamaica ginger, especially during Prohibition in the U.S.
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Also called jake-leg paralysis. Also called jake leg;. paralysis caused by drinking this or other liquor made with denatured alcohol.
noun
adjective
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satisfactory; all right
-
everything is under control
Etymology
Origin of jake1
First recorded in 1895–1900; origin uncertain
Origin of jake2
1925–30, apparently alteration of Jamaica (ginger) ( def. )
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.
See Examples For:
In their place appeared the generic landscape of an American highway exit: service stations and highway signs, motels and mobile homes, the staccato of jake brakes on eighteen-wheelers.
From New York Times ● May 27, 2021
His first name was John or jake or something.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2016
As the old Ira Gershwin lyric put it: Comes the revolution, all is jake / Comes the revolution, we'll be eating cake.
From Chicago Tribune ● Nov. 19, 2014
Scarlett puts her right hand on jake face.Scarlett: “don’t cry it’s going to over I promised you will be fine, close your eyes and takes a dream with pretty girl”.http://azmalhome.wordpress.com/
From Time ● May 6, 2013
“You only need that high school degree if you’re striking for college. I’m doing absolutely jake without it.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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Rather than speak to the prime minister, Mr. Dermer called Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Gyllenhaal, from a well-connected Hollywood family that includes actor brother Jake, also stressed how AI companies were seeking to license the images of actors in order to reproduce them in digital form.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
BBC Verify has used satellite imagery to track its journey and looked into why it travelled so far - as Jake Horton reports.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Johnson’s Jake is particularly prone to changing his mind within a scene, practically letting us see the moments when his brain pops out of his body to bash itself against the nearest wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
In social studies, in a unit on basic economics, Jake helped Mr. Lyons by describing the difference between satisfying wants and meeting needs to a group that just couldn’t grasp the concept.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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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.