jackal

plural jackals

1. Any of certain wild canids of the genera Lupulella and Canis, native to the tropical Old World and smaller than a wolf.

   Until recently, scientists thought Ethiopian wolves were a type of jackal. They gave Ethiopian wolves names like Semien jackal, Simenian jackal, or Ethiopian jackal.

   2002, Fred H. Harrington, The Ethiopian Wolf, page 6

   2 more examples

   In passing, it also mentions how the jackal and the tiger acquired their reddish spots. All of the animals referred to, except the deer, have tricksterlike personalities, both in this tale and in other story contexts. But the jackal is the most renowned of all for roguishness.

   1987, Brenda E. F. Beck, Peter J. Claus, Praphulladatta Goswami, Jawaharlal Handoo, editors, Folktales of India, page 289

   As we will see, the jackal is usually associated in the Indic context with death and impurity, and would therefore sit squarely at the bottom of Dumont's social hierarchy.

   2007, McComas Taylor, The Fall of the Indigo Jackal: The Discourse of Division and Pūrnabhadra's Pañcatantra, page 52

   Synonyms: jackall, chacal

2. A person who performs menial or routine tasks; a dogsbody.

   A nephew of hers, after receiving some learning at her ladyship's expence, got a commission, and fell upon the field of Waterloo; another is still at her heels, as a sort of jackall to fetch and carry when required.

   1819 July 1, “The Political Vis——ss”, in [John Mitford], editor, The New Bon Ton Magazine; or, Telescope of the Times, volume III, number 15, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 179

3. derogatoryfigurativelyA person who behaves in an opportunistic way; especially, a base collaborator.

   Synonyms: quisling, collaborationist, collaborationist, collaborator, collaboratress, collaboratrix, quisler, quisling

   1. derogatoryfigurativelyrugby unionA player who steals the ball at the tackle.

      Synonyms: quisling, collaborationist, collaborationist, collaborator, collaboratress, collaboratrix, quisler, quisling

4. rareslangcard gamesA jack (the playing card).

present singular third person jackals · US participle present jackaling · UK participle present jackalling · US participle past jackaled · US past jackaled · UK participle past jackalled · UK past jackalled

1. To perform menial or routine tasks

   They have jackalled for the great beast, to pick in turns the bones of each other; they have subserved those above, to oppress and defraud those below; and they are suffering, and, so far as classes can, justly suffering their purgation.

   1800, Pamphlets on British Taxation