cheap-jack

[ cheep-jak ]

noun
  1. a peddler, especially of inferior articles.

adjective
  1. of or suitable for a cheap-jack; cheap or inferior.

  2. without scruples or principles; underhanded: using cheap-jack methods to evict tenants.

Origin of cheap-jack

1
First recorded in 1850–55
  • 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 Morley
  • If Llanyglo's cheapjack in one way, perhaps it isn't in another.

    Mushroom Town | Oliver Onions
  • Yet 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

cheap-jack

/ informal /


noun
  1. a person who sells cheap and shoddy goods

adjective
  1. shoddy or inferior

Origin of cheap-jack

1
C19: from cheap + Jack (name used to typify a person)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012