Definition of jackleg
Examples of jackleg in a sentence
<a toolshed that can be built by any jackleg carpenter who's capable of hitting a nail without smashing his thumb>
<he did such a jackleg installation of that door frame that now the door won't shut>
Did You Know?
Don't call someone jackleg unless you're prepared for that person to get angry with you. Throughout its more than 150-year-old history in English, jackleg has most often been used as a term of contempt and deprecation, particularly in reference to lawyers and preachers. Its form echoes that of the similar blackleg, an older term for a cheating gambler or a worker opposed to union policies. Etymologists know that blackleg appeared over a hundred years before jackleg, but they don't have any verifiable theories about the origin of either term.
Origin of jackleg
1jack + -leg (as in blackleg)
First Known Use: 1850
Seen and Heard
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