jack of all trades
see also: Jack of all trades, Jack of all Trades
1610s, from sense Jack ("man (generic term)").
Jack of all trades
Noun
Jack of all Trades
Noun
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see also: Jack of all trades, Jack of all Trades
1610s, from sense Jack ("man (generic term)").
First attested in Essayes and characters of a prison and prisoners, by Geffray Minshull, published 1618 (written 1612), p. 50 ↗, as Jack-of-all-trades.
Nounjack of all trades
- (idiomatic) One competent in many endeavors, especially one who excels in none of them.
- 1618, Geffray Minshull, Essayes and characters of a prison and prisoners, p. 50 ↗:
- Now for the most part your porter is either some broken cittizen, who hath plaid Jack-of-all-trades, some pander, broker, or hangman, that hath plaid the knaue with all men, and for the more certainty his embleme is a red beard, to which facke hath made his nose cousin german.
- 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. 25:
- "I am my own engineer, and my own carpenter, and my own plumber, and my own gardener, and my own Jack of all Trades," said Wemmick.
- 1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Where There's A Will, Ch. 5:
- A fellow can always get some sort of a job—I was coming up here to see if they needed an extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, or anything that meant a roof and something to eat—but I suppose they don't need a jack-of-all-trades.
- 1618, Geffray Minshull, Essayes and characters of a prison and prisoners, p. 50 ↗:
- French: touche-à-tout, homme à tout faire
- German: Hans Dampf in allen Gassen, Alleskönner, Tausendsassa
- Italian: tuttofare
- Portuguese: pau pra toda obra, homem dos sete ofícios
- Russian: ма́стер на все ру́ки
- Spanish: hombre de muchos oficios, persona de muchos oficios, hombre renacentista, hombre del renacimiento
Jack of all trades
Noun
jack of all trades
- Alternative spelling of jack of all trades
Jack of all Trades
Noun
jack of all trades
- Alternative spelling of jack of all trades
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002