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yellow jack

American  

noun

yellow jacks plural
  1. Informal. quarantine flag.

  2. Pathology. yellow fever.

  3. any carangoid fish, especially a Caribbean food fish, Caranx bartholomaei.


yellow jack British  

noun

  1. pathol another name for yellow fever

  2. another name for quarantine flag

  3. any of certain large yellowish carangid food fishes, esp Caranx bartholomaei, of warm and tropical Atlantic waters

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of yellow jack

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

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.

A fortnight later a farmer reached the hospital spewing vomito negro�once a recognized sign of yellow jack.

From Time Magazine Archive

But after performing an autopsy on the last man to die, he thought of yellow jack.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Carroll caught yellow jack from one of the Finlay mosquitoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

But all the time yellow jack was lurking in the jungles.

From Time Magazine Archive

The boys fear yellow jack like a rattlesnake.

From Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom by White, Trumbull

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