jack-in-the-box
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A plastic jack-in-the-box.
English
Noun
jack-in-the-box (plural jacks-in-boxes or jacks-in-the-boxes or jack-in-the-boxes or jacks-in-the-box)
- 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.)
- (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.
- (obsolete) A con-man who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money.
Translations
child’s toy
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See also
jack-in-the-box on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Jack o’ the clock
