Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A conceited or impudent person.
- n. A mischievous child.
- n. Archaic A monkey or an ape.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A monkey; an ape.
- n. Hence A coxcomb; a ridiculous, impertinent fellow.
- n. In mining, the small guide-pulleys of a whim.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete A monkey.
- n. dated, pejorative An impudent or mischievous person.
- n. Plural form of jackanape.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A monkey; an ape.
- n. A coxcomb; an impertinent or conceited fellow.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
Etymologies
- 1450, from “Jack of Naples”, with “of Naples” rendered “a Napes” in vernacular. Originally rendered as Jac Napes, Jac Nape, and Jack Napis in 1450s. Presumably from *Jak a Napes, and original *Jak of Naples, presumably circa 1400. Monkeys were one of many exotic goods from Naples exhibited in Britain, hence acquired the nickname Jack a Napes. (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English Jack Napis, nickname of William de la Pole, Fourth Earl and First Duke of Suffolk (1396-1450). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Countess might accuse him, but Harry never had the ambition to make people think him that: his natural tendency was the reverse: and he objected to the application of the word jackanapes to himself, and was ready to contest the fact of people having that opinion at all.”
“I shan't pick up the 'jackanapes' or the 'rascal.”
“But do you realize that I would be looked upon as the most foolish jackanapes in the South Seas if I took a young girl like you in with me here on Berande?" he asked.”
“I, for one, want my effing money back from these two faced jackanapes.”
“It would be almost too easy to pull information out of this unctuous jackanapes.”
“The grinning, slithering jackanapes is reportedly going to concentrate his sales pitch on the U.S., suspecting that we Brits would sooner chew our tongues than buy his book when it is published on Sept. 13.”
“Back to the stinky subway and cranky Park Avenue jackanapes giving us dirty looks because we're walking too slow.”
“Looks like Phelps and his ratfuck family of bigoted jackanapes are coming to my town.”
“Those who possess wisdom cannot just ladle it out to every wantwit and jackanapes who comes along and asks for it.”
“I should have spat in his eye and told him I didn't run errands for civil servants, but it's not every day you're toadied by a lofty pro-consul, patronising jackanapes though he may be.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jackanapes’.
-
Coal Mining Terms
Coal mining has engendered fascinating subcultures in industry, labor, music, folklore, environment and energy. It has a rich vocabulary as well, and I've encountered some gorgeous mining words. I...
firedamp, scrip, bituminous, anthracite, company store, blackdamp, brattice, bug dust, tipple, whitedamp, float dust, fly ash and 136 more...
-
phrontistery - j
from phrontistery.info
jussive, jutty, jumart, jumar, jugulate, julep, jugate, juggins, judogi, judder, jubbah, jubate and 137 more...
-
Nincompoopery
Words that clatter and tumble
nincompoop, pettyfoggery, gaberlunzie, cattywampus, weisenheimer, katzenjammer, hecklephone, loblolly, carriwitchet, flibbertyjibbet, hornswoggle, thimblerigger and 161 more...
-
primates
big ones,small ones,as many as
I can findangwantibo, babacoote, baboon, bandar, bandari, bobbejaan, bonobo, bushbaby, cebid, ceboid, chacma, chimp and 102 more...
-
•Open List: Plural-Looking Singular N...
This came up on auroch, which is a misspelling of aurochs.
aurochs, series, corps, species, kudos, bitumen, caries, lens, crossroads, means, vertebra, scissors and 7 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
-
~~Olde-Fashioned Insults~~
ragamuffin, muttonchops, tatterdemalion, nincompoop, whippersnapper, bootlicker, backscratcher, loggerhead, weisenheimer, hornswoggler, thimblerigger, quacksalver and 111 more...
-
ashton's Words
genocide, boingy, umwelt, zeitgeist, fungible, vorpal, spawn, discordian, fnord, surreptitious, xyzzy, corruption and 122 more...
-
A Second Helping of Random Palavery
A continuation of my first list, "A Serving of Random Palavery". Like the first, this list contains words that catch my attention, ring happily in my ears, are fun to speak, or are interesting to ...
bouffoir, mossberry, webisode, barquette, brochidodromous, festooned brochid..., eucamptodromy, eucamptodromous, loment, keenings, moss-trooper, mosstrooping and 138 more...
-
old faves
ones I already liked
vacuole, organelle, debauchle, voluptuous, spry, cattywampus, obscure, occlude, occult, celtic, voracious, ardently and 133 more...
-
The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 850 more...
-
Odd-Ball
Just plain fun to say and wonder about their origins.
rapscallion, ramahanukwanzmas, cockamamie, nincompoop, hemidemisemiquaver, antiinterdenomina..., cattywampus, ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, blunderbuss, brobdingnagian, tintinnabulation and 127 more...
-
Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
-
librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
-
The Confidence Man
Words to remember from Melville's "The Confidence Man"
chevalier, hawk, unalloyed, ex-officio, scruple, pertinacity, epithet, gilt, bedizen, embrasure, escritoire, squaw and 278 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jackanapes.
hernesheir One of my father's repertory of scathing insults.
(Nickname, Jack Napes) Perhaps first applied and referring to Wm. de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, (15th cent.), whose badge was a clog and chain like that of a tame ape.
A conceited or impertinent fellow; a pert child. Jan 11, 2009