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Glossary (words starting with J)

Jack o' Dandy conceited fellow: a contemptuous name for a fop or a dandy (OED)

Jack-a-Lent an equivalent of the Aunt Sally popular in later fairgrounds, but here a male puppet, gaudily dressed, that was set up as a butt for people to throw stones at throughout the season of Lent

jackanapes someone who resembles an ape in tricks, airs, or behaviour: used playfully of a pert, forward child, a ‘monkey’ (OED 2c)

jacks fellows, knaves (OED n1. 2a)

jacks machines, often simple in construction, designed to save human labour (the ones referred to specifically in the context were made to turn a spit during the roasting of meat)

jade sometimes used without depreciatory sense, playfully, or in generalized sense, horse

jade term of reprobation applied to a woman (OED n1. 3)

jade on the analogy with an exhausted horse, a jade is an overused prostitute (or more crudely: a clapped-out tart)

jade a contemptuous name for a horse of inferior breed, a hack, a sorry, ill-conditioned, wearied, or worn-out horse (OED n1. 1)

jar discord, want of harmony, disagreement; a divergence or conflict of opinions (OED 5)

jaum joke with, mock

jealous zealous, vigilant, watchful

jealous apprehensive of losing some desired benefit through the rivalry of another; zealous, vigilant, watchful of one's interests (OED adj. 4b and 3)

jealousy apprehension, anxiety (OED n. 4)

jeer (n) scoff, or taunt (OED n2. 1)

jeer taunt, gibe, derisive comment

jeer mockery (OED jeer n2, 2b)

jeer (v) to treat with scorn (OED 2)

jeer (n) disparaging remark

jeered insulted, derided

jeered mocked

jeerer one who insults or rails, a mocker or scoffer

jeering uttering derisive mockery; scoffing

jeers (v) deride, mock, scoff at

jeers (n) ‘derisive speech’, mockery (OED 1a and 1b)

Jenny Howlet a popular name for a small owl (or howlet, or owlet)

jerked whipped, beat it out by verbal means (OED jerk v1, 1a and 3)

jerks witticisms, gibes, sallies

jerks witty gibes; can also refer to copulation

jew's trump a variant term for 'jew's harp', a simple musical instrument

Jew's-ears edible cup-shaped fungus growing on the roots and trunks of trees, chiefly the elder, and formerly in repute as a medicine (However, the emphasis here is on its ugliness, embedded in the racist slur of the name, not its benefits: according to OED, the name originates from medieval Latin, auricula Judae or Judas's ear, so called from its ear-shape and from its being frequently found on the elder, the tree on which Judas Iscariot was supposed to have hanged himself.)

jewel-house treasury

jig (a) light performance or entertainment of a lively or comical character, given at the end, or in an interval, of a play, now obssolete. which perhaps originally mainly consisted of song and dance, but evidently sometimes took on the nature of a farce; (b) sport, joke; trick or cheat

jiggumbobs baubles, knick-knacks, bits and pieces, "stuff"

jigs light performances or entertainment of a lively or comical character; dramatic farces.

jigs dances that were lively, with rapid steps and springs

jingling spurs fashionable spurs with loose rowels that made a jingling sound when the wearer moved; they were not necessarily good for riding, being more decorative than useful

jo darling

jobbernowl head, often of a foolish person (OED notes that this is regional and rare)

jocund cheerful, merry

jog (as an injunction and accompanied with "on") be off with you; move on; get you gone

jogged nudged, given a slight push or shake (to attract attention)

jogging to depart or leave ... to move on, go on, be off (OED jog v, 4a); often used with a slightly mocking jocularity, as here (OED cites Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew: 'There lies your way, You may be jogging while your boots are green' (III.ii.213))

John OED John 3: a familiar ot contemptuous application for a priest.

join connect sexually (Williams), i.e. have sex.

join-hand cursive handwriting: ‘Written with a running hand, so that the characters are rapidly formed without raising the pen, and in consequence have their angles rounded, and separate strokes joined, and at length become slanted’ (OED cursive a.)

joined connected, united (i.e. through the marriage of Valentine and Jane), possibly with a pun on ‘jointure’, the part of a husband’s estate that is assigned to his wife on marriage or on his death

joined connected, united

joiner a craftsman who works with wood

joint-heritable liable to be inherited with

jointing making of firm joints to support a structure

jointure marriage settlement (usually the part of a husband’s wealth or property that he elected to assign to his wife in the event of his death)

jolthead a heavy-headed or thick-headed person; a blockhead (OED 2)

jordan a kind of bottle: according to OED this was chiefly used by physicians or alchemists; or was the term for a chamber-pot (OED)

journey-work used figuratively, one who performs some action, apprentice-like, for another

journey-work the work of an journeyman, one who has yet to achieve the status of master

journeyman qualified artisan who has served his apprenticeship

Jove poetical form of `Jupiter', the name of the highest and most powerful of the Roman gods

jowl knock, bump, bang (OED v1. 2)

jubilee season of celebration (OED n. 4), extended period of holidays

judiciously wisely, correctly

juggler trickster, deceiver; one who uses magic to delude others; frequently used of the devil

jugglers tricksters, deceivers

juggling act of trickery, practice of deception (OED)

juggling (a) cheating, deceptive, beguiling

jump to jump with: to coincide, to agree completely (OED jump v, 5a)

jump precisely at this very moment (with sense too of "fortuitously")

jump right accord well with, work well with

jumps accords

junkets coagulated or jellied milk (created by adding rennet), which got its name from the reed basket (giunco in Italian; old north French jonquette, or from medieval Latin iuncata) in which it was put to drain; according to medieval and renaissance recipes, the best junket is made from the milk of young animals and makes the blood phlegmatic; it is useful in treating swelling of the stomach, and is considered most suitable for robust, young people with hot temperaments (presumably in calming them down -- comical in light of the mostly elderly witches consuming it here); it was frequently the final course of a banquet, sometimes served floating in sweet white wine

just fair-minded, honest

just fair, righteous

justice judge or magistrate (justice of the peace)

justice judgement, moral ruling

justice of the peace a lower ranking magistrate charged with keeping the peace and convicting and punishing offenders

justices judges or magistrates

justified affirmed, corroborated, acknowledged

justify vindicate

justle push against, collide with

justly precisely

justly rightly, deservedly

juvenal youngster (Latin)

juvenis youngster (Latin)