jack-in-the-box

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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.)

   • 1959 November 20, Roald Dahl, "The Landlady"‎, archived from the original on March 19, 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.

• Jack o’ the clock

• jack-in-the-box on Wikipedia.Wikipedia