j

• jthe 10th letter of the Roman alphabet
• J particlea neutral meson with a large mass
• J. B. RhineUnited States parapsychologist (1895-1980)
• J. B. S. HaldaneScottish geneticist (son of John Haldane) who contributed to the development of population genetics; a popularizer of science and a Marxist (1892-1964)
• J. C. MaxwellScottish physicist whose equations unified electricity and magnetism and who recognized the electromagnetic nature of light (1831-1879)
• J. Craig VentnerUnited States geneticist who published the complete base sequences for all the genes of a free-living organism, the influenza bacterium; later led team that developed a first draft of the entire human genome (born in 1946)
• J. D. SalingerUnited States writer (born 1919)
• J. E. JohnstonConfederate general in the American Civil War; led the Confederate troops in the West (1807-1891)
• J. Edgar HooverUnited States lawyer who was director of the FBI for 48 years (1895-1972)
• J. J. HillUnited States railroad tycoon (1838-1916)
• J. M. BarrieScottish dramatist and novelist; created Peter Pan (1860-1937)
• J. M. SyngeIrish poet and playwright whose plays are based on rural Irish life (1871-1909)
• J. P. MorganUnited States financier and philanthropist (1837-1913)
• J. R. FirthEnglish linguist who contributed to linguistic semantics and to prosodic phonology and who was noted for his insistence on studying both sound and meaning in context (1890-1960)
• J.R.R. TolkienBritish philologist and writer of fantasies (born in South Africa) (1892-1973)
• jaal goatA species of wild goat (Capra Nubiana) found in the mountains of Abyssinia, Upper Egypt, and Arabia; -- called also beden, and jaela.
• jabthe act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow
• Jabalpuran industrial city of central India to the southeast of Delhi
• Jabat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniyyaha terrorist group formed in 1977 as the result of a split with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; became a satellite of al-Fatah; made terrorist attacks on Israel across the Lebanese border
• jabberrapid and indistinct speech
• jabberersomeone whose talk is trivial drivel
• jabberingrapid and indistinct speech
• jabberinglyIn a jabbering manner.
• jabbermentJabber. [R.] Milton.
• jabbernowlSame as Jobbernowl.
• jabberwockynonsensical language (according to Lewis Carroll)
• jabbinga sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)
• jabirularge white stork of warm regions of the world especially America
• Jabiru mycterialarge white stork of warm regions of the world especially America
• jaboncilloevergreen of tropical America having pulpy fruit containing saponin which was used as soap by Native Americans
• jaborandiThe native name of a South American rutaceous shrub (Pilocarpus pennatifolius). The leaves are used in medicine as an diaphoretic and sialogogue.
• jaborineAn alkaloid found in jaborandi leaves, from which it is extracted as a white amorphous substance. In its action it resembles atropine.
• jabota ruffle on the front of a woman's blouse or a man's shirt
• jaboticabatough-skinned purple grapelike tropical fruit grown in Brazil
• jaboticaba treesmall evergreen tropical tree native to Brazil and West Indies but introduced into southern United States; grown in Brazil for its edible tough-skinned purple grapelike fruit that grows all along the branches
• jacalIn Mexico and the southwestern United States, a kind of plastered house or hut, usually made by planting poles or timber in the ground, filling in between them with screen work or wickerwork, and daubing one or both sides with mud or adobe mortar; also, this method of construction.
• jacamartropical American insectivorous bird having a long sharp bill and iridescent green or bronze plumage
• jacanaAny of several wading birds belonging to the genus Jacana and several allied genera, all of which have spurs on the wings. They are able to run about over floating water weeds by means of their very long, spreading toes. Called also surgeon bird. Note: The most common South American species is Jacana spinosa. The East Indian or pheasant jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is remarkable for having four very long, curved, middle tail feathers.
• jacarandaan important Brazilian timber tree yielding a heavy hard dark-colored wood streaked with black
• jacareA cayman. See Yacare.
• jacchusThe common marmoset (Hapale vulgaris). Formerly, the name was also applied to other species of the same genus.
• jacconetSee Jaconet.
• jacentLying at length; as, the jacent posture. [R.] Sir H. Wotton.
• jacintha red transparent variety of zircon used as a gemstone
• jacka man who serves as a sailor
• jack beanannual semi-erect bushy plant of tropical South America bearing long pods with white seeds grown especially for forage
• Jack BennyUnited States comedian known for his timeing and delivery and self-effacing humor (1894-1974)
• jack crevallefish of western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
• Jack DempseyUnited States prizefighter who was world heavyweight champion (1895-1983)
• Jack Frosta personification of frost or winter weather
• Jack Kennedy35th President of the United States; established the Peace Corps; assassinated in Dallas (1917-1963)
• Jack KerouacUnited States writer who was a leading figure of the beat generation (1922-1969)
• jack ketchA public executioner, or hangman. [Eng.] The manor of Tyburn was formerly held by Richard Jaquett, where felons for a long time were executed; from whence we have Jack Ketch. Lloyd's MS., British Museum. [Monmouth] then accosted John Ketch, the executioner, a wretch who had butchered many brave and noble victims, and whose name has, during a century and a half, been vulgarly given to all who have succeeded him in his odious office. Macaulay.
• jack ladder(nautical) a hanging ladder of ropes or chains supporting wooden or metal rungs or steps
• Jack LemmonUnited States film actor (1925-2001)
• Jack LondonUnited States writer of novels based on experiences in the Klondike gold rush (1876-1916)
• jack mackerela California food fish
• Jack NicklausUnited States golfer considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time (born in 1940)
• jack oaksmall to medium deciduous oak of east central North America; leaves have sharply pointed lobes
• jack of all tradesa person able to do a variety of different jobs acceptably well
• jack offget sexual gratification through self-stimulation
• jack pineslender medium-sized two-needled pine of eastern North America; with yellow-green needles and scaly grey to red-brown fissured bark
• jack planea carpenter's plane for rough finishing
• Jack Roosevelt RobinsonUnited States baseball player; first Black to play in the major leagues (1919-1972)
• jack salmonpike-like freshwater perches
• Jack the Ripperan unidentified English murderer in the 19th century
• jack uplift with a special device
• Jack William NicklausUnited States golfer considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time (born in 1940)
• jack-a-dandyA little dandy; a little, foppish, impertinent fellow.
• jack-a-lanterna large poisonous agaric with orange caps and narrow clustered stalks; the gills are luminescent
• jack-a-lentA small stuffed puppet to be pelted in Lent; hence, a simple fellow.
• jack-by-the-hedgeEuropean herb that smells like garlic
• jack-in-the-boxplaything consisting of a toy clown that jumps out of a box when the lid is opened
• jack-in-the-pulpitcommon European arum with lanceolate spathe and short purple spadix; emerges in early spring; source of a starch called arum
• jack-o-lanterna large poisonous agaric with orange caps and narrow clustered stalks; the gills are luminescent
• jack-o-lantern fungusa large poisonous agaric with orange caps and narrow clustered stalks; the gills are luminescent
• jack-o'-lanternlantern carved from a pumpkin
• Jack-tara man who serves as a sailor
• jackalOld World nocturnal canine mammal closely related to the dog; smaller than a wolf; sometimes hunts in a pack but usually singly or as a member of a pair
• jackanapessomeone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
• jackarooA young man living as an apprentice on a sheep station, or otherwise engaged in acquainting himself with colonial life. [Colloq., Australia] To be a jackaroo; to pass one's time as a jackaroo. [Colloq., Australia]
• jackassmale donkey
• jackass bata large bat of the southwestern United States having spots and enormous ears
• jackass penguinsmall penguin of South America and southern Africa with a braying call
• jackboot(19th century) a man's high tasseled boot
• jackdawcommon black-and-grey Eurasian bird noted for thievery
• jackeenA drunken, dissolute fellow. [Ireland] S. C. Hall.
• jackerooA young man living as an apprentice on a sheep station, or otherwise engaged in acquainting himself with colonial life. [Colloq., Australia]
• jacket(dentistry) dental appliance consisting of an artificial crown for a broken or decayed tooth
• jacket crown(dentistry) dental appliance consisting of an artificial crown for a broken or decayed tooth
• jacket potatoa baked potato served with the jacket on
• jacketedWearing, or furnished with, a jacket.
• jacketingThe material of a jacket; as, nonconducting jacketing.
• jackfruitimmense East Indian fruit resembling breadfruit; it contains an edible pulp and nutritious seeds that are commonly roasted
• jackfruit treeEast Indian tree cultivated for its immense edible fruit and seeds
• jackhammera hammer driven by compressed air
• Jackie RobinsonUnited States baseball player; first Black to play in the major leagues (1919-1972)
• jacking offslang for masturbation
• jackknifea dive in which the diver bends to touch the ankles before straightening out
• jackknife clammarine clam having a long narrow curved thin shell
• jackknife-fishblack-and-white drumfish with an erect elongated dorsal fin
• jacklighta light used as a lure in hunting or fishing at night
• jackmanOne wearing a jack; a horse soldier; a retainer. See 3d Jack, n. Christie . . . the laird's chief jackman. Sir W. Scott.
• jackpotany outstanding award
• jackpuddingA merry-andrew; a buffoon. Milton.
• jackrabbitlarge hare of western North America
• jacksa game in which jackstones are thrown and picked up in various groups between bounces of a small rubber ball
• jacksawThe merganser.
• jackscrewscrew-operated jack
• jackslaveA low servant; a mean fellow. Shak.
• jacksmelta relatively large silversides of the Pacific coast of North America (known to reach 18 inches in length)
• jacksmithA smith who makes jacks. See 2d Jack, 4, c. Dryden.
• jacksnipeAmerican sandpiper that inflates its chest when courting
• Jacksona town in south central Michigan
• Jackson PollockUnited States artist famous for painting with a drip technique; a leader of abstract expressionism in America (1912-1956)
• Jacksoniagenus of yellow-flowered Australian unarmed or spiny shrubs without true leaves but having leaflike stems or branches
• Jacksonianof or pertaining to Andrew Jackson or his presidency or his concepts of popular democracy
• Jacksonian epilepsyfocal epilepsy in which the attack usually moves from distal to proximal limb muscles on the same side of the body
• JacksonvilleFlorida's largest city; a port and important commercial center in northeastern Florida
• jackstayA rail of wood or iron stretching along a yard of a vessel, to which the sails are fastened.
• jackstone(a) One of the pebbles or pieces used in the game of jackstones. (b) (pl.) A game played with five small stones or pieces of metal. See 6th Chuck.
• jackstonesa game in which jackstones are thrown and picked up in various groups between bounces of a small rubber ball
• jackstrawa thin strip of wood used in playing the game of jackstraws
• jackstrawsa game in which players try to pick each jackstraw (or spillikin) off of a pile without moving any of the others
• jackwoodWood of the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), used in cabinetwork.
• jacky(a) A landsman's nickname for a seaman, resented by the latter. (b) English gin. [Dial. Eng.]
• jacobA Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Gen. xxxii.
• Jacob EpsteinBritish sculptor (born in the United States) noted for busts and large controversial works (1880-1959)
• Jacob HarmensenDutch Protestant theologian who founded Arminianism which opposed the absolute predestinarianism of John Calvin (1559-1609)
• Jacob's ladder(nautical) a hanging ladder of ropes or chains supporting wooden or metal rungs or steps
• Jacob's rodasphodel having erect smooth unbranched stem either flexuous or straight
• Jacob's staffdesert shrub of southwestern United States and Mexico having slender naked spiny branches that after the rainy season put forth foliage and clusters of red flowers
• jacobaean lilyA bulbous plant (Amaryllis, or Sprekelia, formosissima) from Mexico. It bears a single, large, deep, red, lilylike flower. [Written also Jacobean.]
• jacobeanof or relating to James I or his reign or times
• Jacobean lilyMexican bulbous herb cultivated for its handsome bright red solitary flower
• JacobiGerman mathematician (1804-1851)
• jacobianOf or pertaining to a style of architecture and decoration in the time of James the First, of England. "A Jacobean table." C. L. Eastlake.
• jacobin(Eccl. Hist.) A Dominican friar; -- so named because, before the French Revolution, that order had a convent in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris.
• jacobineA Jacobin.
• jacobinicof or relating to the Jacobins of the French Revolution
• jacobinicalof or relating to the Jacobins of the French Revolution
• jacobinismThe principles of the Jacobins; violent and factious opposition to legitimate government. Under this new stimulus, Burn's previous Jacobitism passed towards the opposite, but not very distant, extreme of Jacobinism. J. C. Shairp.
• jacobinizeTo taint with, or convert to, Jacobinism. France was not then jacobinized. Burke.
• jacobite(Eng. Hist.) A partisan or adherent of James the Second, after his abdication, or of his descendants, an opposer of the revolution in 1688 in favor of William and Mary. Macaulay.
• jacobiticOf or pertaining to the Jacobites; characterized by Jacobitism. -- Jac`o*bit"ic*al*ly, adv.
• jacobiticalOf or pertaining to the Jacobites; characterized by Jacobitism. -- Jac`o*bit"ic*al*ly, adv.
• jacobitismThe principles of the Jacobites. Mason.
• JacobsDutch physician who opened the first birth control clinic in the world in Amsterdam (1854-1929)
• jacobusAn English gold coin, of the value of twenty-five shillings sterling, struck in the reign of James I.
• Jacobus ArminiusDutch Protestant theologian who founded Arminianism which opposed the absolute predestinarianism of John Calvin (1559-1609)
• jaconeta lightweight cotton cloth with a smooth and slightly stiff finish; used for clothing and bandages
• Jacopo RobustiItalian painter of the Venetian school (1518-1594)
• jacquarda loom with an attachment for forming openings for the passage of the shuttle between the warp threads; used in weaving figured fabrics
• Jacquard looma loom with an attachment for forming openings for the passage of the shuttle between the warp threads; used in weaving figured fabrics
• Jacqueline CochranUnited States aviator who held several speed records and headed the women's Air Force pilots in World War II (1910-1980)
• Jacquemier's signa purplish discoloration of the mucous membrane of the vagina that occurs early in pregnancy
• jacqueminotA half-hardy, deep crimson rose of the remontant class; -- so named after General Jacqueminot, of France.
• jacquerieThe name given to a revolt of French peasants against the nobles in 1358, the leader assuming the contemptuous title, Jacques Bonhomme, given by the nobles to the peasantry. Hence, any revolt of peasants.
• Jacques Alexandre Cesar CharlesFrench physicist and author of Charles's law which anticipated Gay-Lussac's law (1746-1823)
• Jacques Anatole Francois ThibaultFrench writer of sophisticated novels and short stories (1844-1924)
• Jacques BernoulliSwiss mathematician (1654-1705)
• Jacques CartierFrench explorer who explored the St. Lawrence river and laid claim to the region for France (1491-1557)
• Jacques CharlesFrench physicist and author of Charles's law which anticipated Gay-Lussac's law (1746-1823)
• Jacques CosteauFrench underwater explorer (born in 1910)
• Jacques DerridaFrench philosopher and critic (born in Algeria); exponent of deconstructionism (1930-2004)
• Jacques Etienne MontgolfierFrench inventor who (with his brother Josef Michel Montgolfier) pioneered hot-air ballooning (1745-1799)
• Jacques Francois Antoine IbertFrench composer (1890-1962)
• Jacques Francois Fromental Elie HalevyFrench operatic composer (1799-1862)
• Jacques Germain SoufflotFrench architect (1713-1780)
• Jacques LipchitzUnited States sculptor (born in Lithuania) who pioneered cubist sculpture (1891-1973)
• Jacques LoebUnited States physiologist (born in Germany) who did research on parthenogenesis (1859-1924)
• Jacques Louis DavidFrench neoclassical painter who actively supported the French Revolution (1748-1825)
• Jacques Lucien MonodFrench biochemist who (with Francois Jacob) explained how genes are activated and suggested the existence of messenger RNA (1910-1976)
• Jacques MarquetteFrench missionary who accompanied Louis Joliet in exploring the upper Mississippi River valley (1637-1675)
• Jacques MonodFrench biochemist who (with Francois Jacob) explained how genes are activated and suggested the existence of messenger RNA (1910-1976)
• Jacques OffenbachFrench composer of many operettas and an opera (1819-1880)
• Jacques TatiFrench filmmaker (1908-1982)
• Jacques TatischeffFrench filmmaker (1908-1982)
• Jacques Yves CosteauFrench underwater explorer (born in 1910)
• Jacquiniasometimes placed in family Myrsinaceae
• Jacquinia armillarissmall West Indian shrub or tree with hard glossy seeds patterned yellow and brown that are used to make bracelets
• Jacquinia keyensisWest Indian shrub or small tree having leathery saponaceous leaves and extremely hard wood
• jactancyA boasting; a bragging. [Obs.]
• jactation(pathology) extremely restless tossing and twitching usually by a person with a severe illness
• jactitatemove or stir about violently
• jactitation(pathology) extremely restless tossing and twitching usually by a person with a severe illness
• jaculableFit for throwing. [Obs.]
• jaculateTo throw or cast, as a dart; to throw out; to emit.
• jaculationThe act of tossing, throwing, or hurling, as spears. Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire. Milton.
• jaculatorOne who throws or casts. [R.] 2. (Zoöl.) The archer fish (Toxotes jaculator).
• jaculatoryDarting or throwing out suddenly; also, suddenly thrown out; uttered in short sentences; ejaculatory; as, jaculatory prayers. Smart.
• Jaculusjerboas
• Jaculus jaculusa variety of jerboa
• jaddingSee Holing.
• jadeof something having the color of jade; especially varying from bluish green to yellowish green
• jade greena light green color varying from bluish green to yellowish green
• jade vinevigorous Philippine evergreen twining liana; grown for spectacular festoons of green flowers that resemble lobster claws
• jade-greenof something having the color of jade; especially varying from bluish green to yellowish green
• jadeddulled by surfeit
• jadeitea hard green mineral consisting of sodium aluminum silicate in monoclinic crystalline form; a source of jade; found principally in Burma