cheap-jack
a peddler, especially of inferior articles.
of or suitable for a cheap-jack; cheap or inferior.
without scruples or principles; underhanded: using cheap-jack methods to evict tenants.
Origin of cheap-jack
1- Also cheapjack, cheap-john [cheep-jon]. /ˈtʃipˌdʒɒn/.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cheap-jack in a sentence
The rewards of the literary world—that is, the tangible, potable, spendable rewards—go mostly to the cheapjack and the mountebank.
Pipefuls | Christopher MorleyIf Llanyglo's cheapjack in one way, perhaps it isn't in another.
Mushroom Town | Oliver OnionsYet honestly, half my fellows might easily serve as models to any literary cheapjack of the moment.
The Altar Steps | Compton MacKenzie
British Dictionary definitions for cheap-jack
/ informal /
a person who sells cheap and shoddy goods
shoddy or inferior
Origin of cheap-jack
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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