jack-in-office
jack-in-office noun: a self-important but minor official.
Noun
jack-in-office (plural jacks-in-office)
- A self-important but minor official.
- But a man gifted with original thoughts and the power of expressing them, appears to be regarded by everyone in authority as much worse than the worst criminal, and all the 'jacks-in-office' unite to kick him to death if they can.1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, published...
- For ordinary purposes I generally describe myself as a rent-collector, but that is because official Jacks-in-office seem to have a morbid suspicion of anyone who is obviously not a millionaire calling himself independent.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
- Synonyms:
- jack guardant, petty functionary
Synonyms of jack-in-office
- petty functionary
- jack guardant
Forms of jack-in-office
| plural | jacks-in-office |
|---|---|
| alternative form | jack in office |
Questions about jack-in-office
- What does jack-in-office mean?
- Jack-in-office means a self-important but minor official.
- What part of speech is jack-in-office?
- Jack-in-office is a noun.
- What is the plural of jack-in-office?
- The plural of jack-in-office is jacks-in-office.
Words near jack-in-office in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jack-in-office (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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