jack-in-the-box

plural jacks-in-boxes · plural jacks-in-the-boxes · plural jack-in-the-boxes · plural jacks-in-the-box

1. Children’s toy consisting of a small box from which a male figure pops out unexpectedly after some turnings of a crank.

   "Did you venture to call me a liar?" ("No, sir, no!" shouted the accused, and disappeared like a Jack-in-the-box.)

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   “There’s this terrible business to start with. Scotland Yard men in and out of the house like a jack-in-the-box! Never know where they won’t turn up next.”

   1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 126

   Normally, you ring a bell and you have at least a half-minute wait before the door opens. But this person was like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell—and out she popped! It made him jump.

   1959 November 20, Roald Dahl, "The Landlady", archived from the original on 19 Mar 2023

2. historicalA small but powerful kind of screw, used by burglars to break open safes.

   It was possible, from underneath, to use the old jack-in-the-box safe-breaker's tool which lay in his gasman's bag.

   2013, Donald Thomas, The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes

3. obsoleteA con-man who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money.