jacktar

plural jacktars · alternative jack-tar · alternative Jack Tar · alternative Jack tar · alternative Jacktar

1. UKA sailor; especially, one in the Royal Navy.

   I am a jolly Jack Tar, / My star, / And you are the fairest, / The richest and rarest / Of innocent lasses you are, / By far

   1887, “Ruddigore”, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), Act II

   2 more examples

   O! the next that steps up is a jolly Jack tar, / He sailed with Lord [Nelson]^([sic]), during last war: / He’s right on the sea, Old England to view: / He’s come a pace-egging with so jolly a crew.

   1857, “The Masker's Song”, in Robert Bell, editor, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England

   Wreaths of blue smoke curled gracefully from above the pipes of our loungers, who, gradually growing tired of chaffing each other, or of vainly wooing the drowsy god, fell into the ever-pleasant frontier habit of spinning yarns, an art in which the borderer rivals any gallant Jack Tar who ever trod a forecastle.

   1884, John Gregory Bourke, The snake-dance of the Moquis of Arizona

   Synonyms: jack, tar

1. UKAlternative letter-case form of jacktar.