jack boys

Noun

jack boy (plural jack boys)

1. (slang, Christ's Hospital) A low-ranking employee who is responsible for dispensing drinks to the other workers.
   • As the last order are destined to be jack boys, and to other inferior offices, so the first are monitors of the ward, whose province it is to walk up and down the table in the hall, at meals, during the time service is performing, and to take care that the others do not play nor talk, but attend to...1923, Edmund Blunden, Christ's Hospital: A Retrospect, page 68
2. (obsolete, slang) A boy or young man who is hired to run errands and perform unskilled labor.
   • The only fault I find at Moberly is that they are mighty shy of “jack boys;" that is the fault all along the Wabash, only more so at Moberly, but I have assurance from the Officials that this will be taken care of in the near future.1915, The Railroad Worker - Volume 12, page 41