jack in

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

jack in (third-person singular simple present jacks in, present participle jacking in, simple past and past participle jacked in)

1. (transitive, idiomatic, British) To stop doing a regular activity, such as a job or studying.

   I've had enough of working nights, so I'm going to jack in my job.

   I'm going to jack my job in.

   • 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 26:

     And when I came round, after a couple of months of darkness, I found to my surprise that I had jacked in my course and was working in Record and Tape Exchange in Camden.

2. (music recording, computing, electronics) To insert an electronic coupling into a receptacle; to connect to something, whether involving a physical medium or not.
3. (science fiction) To connect a brain directly to a computer.
   • 1970 June, Robert Silverberg, “The Tower of Glass”, in Galaxy Science Fiction, volume 30, number 3, page 141:

     Watchman replaced him in the linkup seat. He jacked himself into the computer.

   • 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 37:

     Seven days and he'd jack in. If he closed his eyes now, he'd see the matrix.

   • 1986, William Gibson, “Winter Market”, in Burning Chrome, page 129:

     She couldn't move, not without that extra skeleton, and it was jacked straight into her brain, myoelectric interface.

Usage notes

• In the British idiom, the object may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.

Derived terms

• jack it in UK

References

• (science fiction): Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “jack in”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 103.
• (science fiction): Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “jack in v.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.