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jamoke. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
jamoke, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
jamoke in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
jamoke you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Appeared at the end of the 19th century as a term for coffee, a blend of java + mocha.
By the 1920s or 1940s jamoke was also attested in the sense of "fool, idiot", perhaps suggesting they lacked mental abilities beyond that of a cup of coffee, or perhaps an unrelated word; the first syllable is reminiscent of jaboney, jiboney, and the second syllable is reminiscent of moke. Also spelled jamook, giamoke, and giamope, the term as used for an idiot has also been suggested to derive from a dialectal Italian (Neapolitan or Sicilian) word giamope.
In the 1960s it also began to be used as slang for male genitalia.
This term may be the origin of cup of joe and joe; see those entries for more.
Pronunciation
Noun
jamoke (countable and uncountable, plural jamokes)
- (uncountable, slang) Coffee.
- 1957, Samuel Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Illinois 2002), page 71:
- The chartroom door popped open before the startled admirals in the cockpit, and the beaming face of the boat's cook appeared to offer the hospitality of his craft, thus: “Would yer Majesty like a cuppa jamoke?”
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:coffee
- (countable, slang) A stupid person, fool.
2004, Dan Johnson, The Molotov Box, Xlibris, page 24:You and I both know that this is not enough money for the President and it's too damn much for some jamoke in the Bronx.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool
- (countable, slang) The penis.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis
References
- ^ Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2015, Routledge, →ISBN), page 1250
- ^ “jamoke”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ^ Modern Language Teachers' Association of Sweden, Moderna språk (2002), volumes 96-97, page 30: Jamook (2:6) in ItAm means 'lame brain, half-wit'; according to Gagliano (1999) it comes from a dialect word giamope 'idiot'."