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Mary vs Jack - What's the difference?

mary | jack |

As nouns the difference between mary and jack

is that mary is (gay slang|chiefly|us) a male homosexual while jack is (informal) a placeholder or conventional name for any man, particularly a younger, lower-class man.

As a proper noun jack is

, also used as a pet form of john or jack can be (slang) jack daniel's, a brand of american whiskey.

mary

English

(wikipedia Mary)

Proper noun

(Marys)
  • .
  • * 1821 Lord Byron, Don Juan : Canto the Fifth: IV:
  • I have a passion for the name of Mary , / For once it was a magic sound to me: / And still it half calls up the realm of fairy / Where I beheld what never was to be.
  • * 1830 Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Cottage Names :
  • Mary , which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;
  • * 1905 , Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway , Mary is a Grand Old Name ( a song)
  • For it was Mary'; '''Mary''' / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was '''Mary'''; ' Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.
  • The Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ.
  • * :
  • Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
  • The 19th sura (chapter) of the Quran
  • Any of several other women in the New Testament, notably Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha.
  • * :
  • Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
  • (Ireland, dated) A middle name for a male, given in honour of the Virgin Mary.
  • Usage notes

    * The given name was considered too sacred to use before the end of the 12th century. It was very popular from the 17th to the 20th century.

    Derived terms

    * Marian * Bloody Mary * Mary Ann * Mary Jane

    Coordinate terms

    * Amina

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    jack

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) , from the name Jack, from (etyl) Jacques

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mechanical device used to raise and (temporarily) support a heavy object, e.g. screw jack, scissor jack, hydraulic jack, ratchet jack, scaffold jack.
  • She used a jack to lift her car and changed the tire.
  • A man or men in general.
  • Every man jack .
  • A male animal.
  • A male ass.
  • (card games) The card ranking between the (ten) and (queen) of any suit, picturing a knave or prince on its face. In some card games has a value of eleven based on its rank, but in many card games has a value of ten like the ten'', ''queen'', and (king) cards. Also called a ''knave .
  • (archaic) A knave (a servant or later, a deceitful man).
  • *
  • , related to the mango tree.
  • A surface-mounted connector for electrical, especially telecommunications, equipment.
  • telephone jack
  • (sports) A target ball in bowls, etc; a jack-ball.
  • * (rfdate), Sir (Walter Scott)
  • like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it
  • (games) A small, six-pointed playing piece used in the game of jacks.
  • (colloquial, euphemistic) Nothing, jack shit.
  • You haven't done jack . Get up and get this room cleaned up right now!
  • (nautical) A small flag at the bow of a ship.
  • (nautical) A naval ensign flag flown from the main mast, mizzen mast, or the aft-most major mast of (especially) British sailing warships; Union Jack.
  • (military) A coarse and cheap medieval coat of defense, especially one made of leather.
  • *
  • A penny with a head on both sides, used for cheating. (Reference: Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language , second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 243.)
  • (slang) Money.
  • * 1939 , (Raymond Chandler), The Big Sleep , Penguin 2011, page 133:
  • First off Regan carried fifteen grand, packed it in his clothes all the time. Real money, they tell me. Not just a top card and a bunch of hay. That's a lot of jack [...].
  • (slang, Appalachians) A smooth often ovoid large gravel or small cobble in a natural water course.
  • A common name for the freshwater pike, green pike or pickerel.
  • A large California rockfish.
  • Any marine fish or the species of the Carangidae family.
  • (obsolete, nautical) A sailor; a "jack tar".
  • (obsolete) A pitcher or can of waxed leather, supposed to resemble a jackboot; a black-jack.
  • (Dryden)
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) A drinking measure holding half a pint or, sometimes, a quarter of a pint.
  • (Halliwell)
  • A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a subordinate part of a machine.
  • # A device to pull off boots.
  • # A sawhorse or sawbuck.
  • # A machine for turning a spit; a smokejack.
  • # (mining) A wooden wedge for separating rocks rent by blasting.
  • # A lever for depressing the sinkers which push the loops down on the needles in a knitting machine.
  • # A grating to separate and guide the threads in a warping machine; a heck box.
  • # A machine for twisting the sliver as it leaves the carding machine.
  • # A compact, portable machine for planing metal.
  • # A machine for slicking or pebbling leather.
  • # A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for multiplying speed.
  • # A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent pipe, to prevent a back draught.
  • # In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece communicating the action of the key to the quill; also called hopper.
  • # In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the torch used to attract game at night; also, the light itself.
  • # (nautical) A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead, to support a royal mast, and give spread to the royal shrouds; also called jack crosstree.
  • Female ended electrical connector (see )
  • Electrical connector in a fixed position (see )
  • Synonyms
    * (playing card) knave * (male ass) jackass
    Derived terms
    * bicolor jack * blackfin jack * bootjack * cheap-jack * cottonmouth jack * Crevalle jack * green jack * horse-eye jack * jackanapes * jack-o'-lantern * jack of all trades * jack over * jack plug * jack rabbit * one-eyed jack * Senegal jack * trolley jack * whitetongue jack * Union Jack * yellowfin jack
    See also
    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To use a jack.
  • He jacked the car up so that he could replace the brake pads.
  • To raise or increase.
  • If you want to jack your stats you just write off failures as invalid results.
  • (colloquial) To steal something, typically an automobile. Contraction of carjacking
  • Someone jacked my car last night!
  • To dance by moving the torso forward and backward in a rippling motion.
  • Derived terms
    * jack up (several meanings) * jack off

    Etymology 2

    (en)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive, slang, baseball) To hit (the ball) hard; especially, to hit (the ball) out of the field, producing a home run.
  • * 1986 , in Arete: The Journal of Sport Literature , Volume 4, Sport Literature Association:
  • An excellent piece of work, Wayne thought, so good in fact, he wasn’t surprised when Bailey walked to the plate and on the first pitch jacked the ball far into the parking lot outside the left-field fence for a tournament winning homerun.
  • * 2004 , Wayne Stewart, Hitting Secrets of the Pros: Big League Sluggers Reveal the Tricks of Their Trade , McGraw-Hill Professional, ISBN 9780071418249, page 90:
  • Therefore, even though Vizquel is certainly not a power hitter, at times he will try to jack the ball, perhaps pulling it with just enough oomph to carry down the line for a homer.
  • * Jim McManus, quoted in T.J. Lewis, A View from the Mound: My Father’s Life in Baseball , Lulu.com (publisher, 2008), ISBN 9781435714861, page 107:
  • Maybe he hung a curve ball to somebody and they jacked it out of the park on him and he wasn’t upset about it.
    Derived terms
    * jack in * jack it in * jack off

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) jaque, jacque, perhaps from the proper name Jacques. Compare jacquerie.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A coarse mediaeval coat of defence, especially one made of leather.
  • * Sir J. Harrington
  • Their horsemen are with jacks for most part clad.

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A jackfruit tree.
  • References

    * ----