jack-in-the-box

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English

Several jacks-in-boxes on a shelf at Young V&A.

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Noun

jack-in-the-box (plural jacks-in-boxes or jacks-in-the-boxes or jack-in-the-boxes or jacks-in-the-box)

  1. Children’s toy consisting of a small box from which a male figure pops out unexpectedly after some turnings of a crank.
    • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World , London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      "Did you venture to call me a liar?" ("No, sir, no!" shouted the accused, and disappeared like a Jack-in-the-box.)
    • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 126:
      “There’s this terrible business to start with. Scotland Yard men in and out of the house like a jack-in-the-box! Never know where they won’t turn up next.”
    • 1959 November 20, Roald Dahl, "The Landlady"‎, archived from the original on 19 March 2023:
      Normally, you ring a bell and you have at least a half-minute wait before the door opens. But this person was like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell—and out she popped! It made him jump.
  2. (historical) A small but powerful kind of screw, used by burglars to break open safes.
    • 2013, Donald Thomas, The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes:
      It was possible, from underneath, to use the old jack-in-the-box safe-breaker's tool which lay in his gasman's bag.
  3. (obsolete) A con-man who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money.

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