Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sailor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK Alternative spelling of jacktar.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It was a scene of constant hubbub: smiths and sailmakers toiling in their shops, captains and mates hollering after jack-tar seamen, stevedores and draymen wrestling the great wooden barrels called hogsheads used to ship the staples of trade—flour or sugar, wine or rum.

    Robert Morris Charles Rappleye 2010

  • It was a scene of constant hubbub: smiths and sailmakers toiling in their shops, captains and mates hollering after jack-tar seamen, stevedores and draymen wrestling the great wooden barrels called hogsheads used to ship the staples of trade—flour or sugar, wine or rum.

    Robert Morris Charles Rappleye 2010

  • Whatever became of the men from the British trawler he never knew, but his jack-tar companions were with him still and helped to keep up his spirits.

    Tom Slade on a Transport Percy Keese Fitzhugh 1913

  • So they jogged along together, talking vigorously about the Navy, but, in the course of half an hour the jack-tar seemed to think better of his plan for entering "a service noted for its cruelty to seamen," and turned back, saying,

    Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure Charles Haven Ladd Johnston 1910

  • The money they threw on the bars of water-side dram-shops, in exchange for the vile rum which was the worst enemy of too many a good jack-tar, was looked upon with suspicion.

    The Naval History of the United States Volume 1 (of 2) Willis J. Abbot 1898

  • The name of Porter is one famous in the naval annals of the United States; and probably there never existed a family in which the love for the life of a fighting jack-tar was so strong as among these representative American sailors.

    The Naval History of the United States Volume 1 (of 2) Willis J. Abbot 1898

  • So he got himself transferred to another boat that was about to sail for the West Indies, and took the rough service that falls to the lot of a jack-tar.

    Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers Elbert Hubbard 1885

  • He came down in a few minutes, having donned his best jack-tar suit, and holding out a pretty sealskin purse to Bet.

    A Girl of the People L. T. Meade 1884

  • Splendid jack-tar as he was, no one could be more thoroughly disagreeable than

    A Girl of the People L. T. Meade 1884

  • No matter; it was their wedding-day, thought Will, and no one could be more cheerful than he as he donned his becoming sailor suit and brushed his curly hair, and made himself look as spruce and neat as any jack-tar in the land.

    A Girl of the People L. T. Meade 1884

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