cheap-jack

[ cheep-jak ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

of or suitable for a cheap-jack; cheap or inferior.
without scruples or principles; underhanded:
using cheap-jack methods to evict tenants.

cheap-jack

First recorded in 1850–55

C19: from cheap + Jack (name used to typify a person)

Soon the voice of the cheap-Jack was heard mingling with the others on shore.

As for the cheap-Jack fellows, let our master make 'em pay toll.

He talked away like a Cheap Jack, and made such fun, people nearly died with laughing.

Somehow this cheap-Jack way of getting out of doing any work by spending a little money, got my goat something fierce.

The law, wrote M. Jusserand, distinguished very clearly between an educated physician and a cheap-jack of the cross-ways.

April 24, 2024gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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