What is "union jack"

Jack \Jack\ (j[a^]k), n. [F. Jacques James, L. Jacobus, Gr. ?, Heb. Ya 'aq[=o]b Jacob; prop., seizing by the heel; hence, a supplanter. Cf. Jacobite, Jockey.]

1. A familiar nickname of, or substitute for, John.

   You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby.
   --Shak.

2. An impertinent or silly fellow; a simpleton; a boor; a clown; also, a servant; a rustic. ``Jack fool.''
   --Chaucer.

   Since every Jack became a gentleman, There 's many a gentle person made a Jack.
   --Shak.

3. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also Jack tar, and Jack afloat.

4. A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient service, and often supplying the place of a boy or attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:

   1. A device to pull off boots.

   2. A sawhorse or sawbuck.

   3. A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke jack, or kitchen jack. (b) (Mining) A wooden wedge for separating rocks rent by blasting. (e) (Knitting Machine) A lever for depressing the sinkers which push the loops down on the needles. (f) (Warping Machine) A grating to separate and guide the threads; a heck box. (g) (Spinning) A machine for twisting the sliver as it leaves the carding machine. (h) A compact, portable machine for planing metal. (i) A machine for slicking or pebbling leather. (k) A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for multiplying speed. (l) A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent pipe, to prevent a back draught. (m) In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece communicating the action of the key to the quill; -- called also hopper. (n) In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the torch used to attract game at night; also, the light itself.
      --C. Hallock.

5. A portable machine variously constructed, for exerting great pressure, or lifting or moving a heavy body such as an automobile through a small distance. It consists of a lever, screw, rack and pinion, hydraulic press, or any simple combination of mechanical powers, working in a compact pedestal or support and operated by a lever, crank, capstan bar, etc. The name is often given to a jackscrew, which is a kind of jack.

6. The small bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls.
   --Shak.

   Like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it.
   --Sir W. Scott.

7. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.

8. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. A young pike; a pickerel.

   2. The jurel.

   3. A large, California rock fish ( Sebastodes paucispinus); -- called also boccaccio, and m['e]rou.

   4. The wall-eyed pike.

9. A drinking measure holding half a pint; also, one holding a quarter of a pint. [Prov. Eng.]
   --Halliwell.

10. (Naut.)

    1. A flag, containing only the union, without the fly, usually hoisted on a jack staff at the bowsprit cap; -- called also union jack. The American jack is a small blue flag, with a star for each State.

    2. A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead, to support a royal mast, and give spread to the royal shrouds; -- called also jack crosstree.
       --R. H. Dana, Jr.

11. The knave of a suit of playing cards.

12. (pl.) A game played with small (metallic, with tetrahedrally oriented spikes) objects (the jacks(1950+), formerly jackstones) that are tossed, caught, picked up, and arranged on a horizontal surface in various patterns; in the modern American game, the movements are accompanied by tossing or bouncing a rubber ball on the horizontal surface supporting the jacks. same as jackstones.

13. Money. [slang]

14. Apple jack.

15. Brandy. Note: Jack is used adjectively in various senses. It sometimes designates something cut short or diminished in size; as, a jack timber; a jack rafter; a jack arch, etc. Jack arch, an arch of the thickness of one brick. Jack back (Brewing & Malt Vinegar Manuf.), a cistern which receives the wort. See under 1st Back. Jack block (Naut.), a block fixed in the topgallant or royal rigging, used for raising and lowering light masts and spars. Jack boots, boots reaching above the knee; -- worn in the 17 century by soldiers; afterwards by fishermen, etc. Jack crosstree. (Naut.) See 10, b, above. Jack curlew (Zo["o]l.), the whimbrel. Jack frame. (Cotton Spinning) See 4 (g), above. Jack Frost, frost or cold weather personified as a mischievous person. Jack hare, a male hare. --Cowper. Jack lamp, a lamp for still hunting and camp use. See def. 4 (n.), above. Jack plane, a joiner's plane used for coarse work. Jack post, one of the posts which support the crank shaft of a deep-well-boring apparatus. Jack pot (Poker Playing), the name given to the stakes, contributions to which are made by each player successively, till such a hand is turned as shall take the ``pot,'' which is the sum total of all the bets. See also jackpot. Jack rabbit (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of large American hares, having very large ears and long legs. The California species ( Lepus Californicus), and that of Texas and New Mexico ( Lepus callotis), have the tail black above, and the ears black at the tip. They do not become white in winter. The more northern prairie hare ( Lepus campestris) has the upper side of the tail white, and in winter its fur becomes nearly white. Jack rafter (Arch.), in England, one of the shorter rafters used in constructing a hip or valley roof; in the United States, any secondary roof timber, as the common rafters resting on purlins in a trussed roof; also, one of the pieces simulating extended rafters, used under the eaves in some styles of building. Jack salmon (Zo["o]l.), the wall-eyed pike, or glasseye. Jack sauce, an impudent fellow. [Colloq. & Obs.] Jack shaft (Mach.), the first intermediate shaft, in a factory or mill, which receives power, through belts or gearing, from a prime mover, and transmits it, by the same means, to other intermediate shafts or to a line shaft. Jack sinker (Knitting Mach.), a thin iron plate operated by the jack to depress the loop of thread between two needles. Jack snipe. (Zo["o]l.) See in the Vocabulary. Jack staff (Naut.), a staff fixed on the bowsprit cap, upon which the jack is hoisted. Jack timber (Arch.), any timber, as a rafter, rib, or studding, which, being intercepted, is shorter than the others. Jack towel, a towel hung on a roller for common use. Jack truss (Arch.), in a hip roof, a minor truss used where the roof has not its full section. Jack tree. (Bot.) See 1st Jack, n. Jack yard (Naut.), a short spar to extend a topsail beyond the gaff. Blue jack, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper. Hydraulic jack, a jack used for lifting, pulling, or forcing, consisting of a compact portable hydrostatic press, with its pump and a reservoir containing a supply of liquid, as oil. Jack-at-a-pinch.

    1. One called upon to take the place of another in an emergency.

    2. An itinerant parson who conducts an occasional service for a fee.

       Jack-at-all-trades, one who can turn his hand to any kind of work.

       Jack-by-the-hedge (Bot.), a plant of the genus Erysimum ( Erysimum alliaria, or Alliaria officinalis), which grows under hedges. It bears a white flower and has a taste not unlike garlic. Called also, in England, sauce-alone.
       --Eng. Cyc.

       Jack-in-office, an insolent fellow in authority.
       --Wolcott.

       Jack-in-the-bush (Bot.), a tropical shrub with red fruit ( Cordia Cylindrostachya).

       Jack-in-the-green, a chimney sweep inclosed in a framework of boughs, carried in Mayday processions.

       Jack-of-the-buttery (Bot.), the stonecrop ( Sedum acre).

       Jack-of-the-clock, a figure, usually of a man, on old clocks, which struck the time on the bell.

       Jack-on-both-sides, one who is or tries to be neutral.

       Jack-out-of-office, one who has been in office and is turned out.
       --Shak.

       Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of a well-known nursery story.

       Yellow Jack (Naut.), the yellow fever; also, the quarantine flag. See Yellow flag, under Flag.

1670s, from union + jack (n.); properly a small British union flag flown as the jack of a ship, but it has long been in use as a general name for the union flag. The Union flag (1630s) was introduced to symbolize the union of the crowns of England and Scotland (in 1603) and was formed of a combination of the cross saltire of St. Andrew and the cross of St. George. The cross saltire of St. Patrick was added 1801 upon the union of parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has an official or semi-official status in some other Commonwealth realms; for example, it is, by law, an official flag in Canada and known there as the Royal Union Flag. Further, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton (upper left-hand quarter) of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions.

The claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013.

The origins of the earlier flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. James VI of Scotland had inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 as James I, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland in a personal union, although the three kingdoms remained separate states. On 12 April 1606, a new flag to represent this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England (a red cross on a white background, known as St George's Cross), and the flag of Scotland (a white saltire on a blue background, known as the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross), would be joined together, forming the flag of England and Scotland for maritime purposes. King James also began to refer to a "Kingdom of Great Britaine", although the union remained a personal one.

The present design of the Union Flag dates from a Royal proclamation following the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. The flag combines aspects of three older national flags: the red cross of St George of the Kingdom of England, the white saltire of St Andrew for Scotland (which two were united in the first Union Flag), and the red saltire of St Patrick to represent Ireland.

Notably, the home country of Wales is not represented separately in the Union Jack, being only indirectly represented through the flag of England representing the former Kingdom of England ( which included Wales).

Union Jack is a trance music collaboration between Simon Berry and Claudio Giussani, a trance music producer from England. The duo has focused on acid and tech trance and has been closely associated with the Platipus record label, which was founded by Berry.

Disillusioned by the state of the early 1990s music industry, Berry and Giussani joined forces in 1993, firstly remixing Nicely’s "Away The Throttle Pedal Stop" before releasing their seminal first single, "Two Full Moons and A Trout". Their following single, "Cactus", reinforced their reputation before the release of their first album There Will Be No Armageddon. Enjoyable both at home and on the dance floor, it contained their third single, "Red Herring", which was a popular club song in the 1990s.

In 2008, after a 7-year hiatus, Union Jack (this time featuring a new production partner, Paul Brogden from POB/Seismic Records) recommenced with a career spanning live set at the Ultra Music Festival, taking in all their classic tracks. Following the success of that live date the pair entered the studio to work on Pylon Pigs, Union Jack’s first new material in eleven years.

Union Jack (Joseph "Joey" Chapman) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the third person to take on the role of Union Jack. He first appeared in Captain America #253 (January, 1981).

The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the flag of the United Kingdom.

Union Jack may also refer to:

• Union Jack of Norway and Sweden, a navy jack and consular flag (1844–1905)

The Union Jack is the only monthly newspaper featuring news from the United Kingdom, produced and published in the United States. The publication is aimed at British expatriates in the United States. It was established in 1982 and is distributed in every state. The paper ceased publication in July 2016.

Union Jack is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in the Marvel Universe comic books published by Marvel Comics and Marvel UK. Created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins, the first Union Jack first appeared in Invaders #7 (July 1976), a second incarnation from the same creators appeared in The Invaders #21, and a third incarnation was created by Roger Stern and John Byrne for Captain America Vol. 1 #254 (February 1981).

Following The Invaders, Union Jack has been featured as a regular character in ongoing series Knights of Pendragon, New Invaders and Invaders Now, as well two self-titled mini-series.

The Union Jack was a story paper of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were two story papers called Union Jack. The first appeared in the 1880s but was only very short-lived. The name was then used by Alfred Harmsworth in 1894 for a new halfpenny storypaper intended as a companion to the successful Halfpenny Marvel.

Harmsworth considered it his moral duty to put the Penny Dreadfuls out of business, though some considered his papers to simply be "halfpenny dreadfullers". The first issues of the Union Jack stated that it was a "Library of high class fiction". The editorial at the end of the very first issue stated "there will be nothing of the 'dreadful' type in our stories. No tales of boys rifling their employers' cash-boxes and making off to foreign lands, or other such highly immoral fiction products".

The paper claimed to be offering good value by "securing the very best authors" but only presenting their stories on cheap paper, rather than "wasting" money on colourful bindings and high-quality paper. However, the actual quality of the stories, especially in the early years, could be variable. Also many writers used pseudonyms to make it appear that more people were writing for the paper than actually were.

Union Jack is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to traditional British tunes, hornpipe melodies and music-hall songs, ca. 1890–1914, adapted by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on 13 May 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, to honor British heritage in the United States its bicentennial with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley. At the finale the ensemble spells out "God Save the Queen" in semaphore code and the Union Jack unfurls. Principal dancer Jock Soto included an excerpt from Union Jack in his farewell performance in June 2005.