john

Noun (1)

john (plural johns)

1. (US, slang) A prostitute's client.
   • The girls sat there while the johns (customers) moped around giving them the once-over.1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 22
   • Well she's black as coal, but she burn like a fire,
     And she wrap herself around you like a well-worn tire.
     You feel her nail scratch your back just like a rake,
     Oh oh, he one more gone, he one more john who make the mistake.1975, “Island Girl”, in Bernie Taupin (lyrics), Rock of the Westies, performed by Elton John

   Synonyms:

   all-nighter, curb crawler, fare, gonk, jane, jockey, kerb crawler, monger, muttonmonger, punter

2. (US, slang) A device or place for urination and defecation: now usually a toilet or lavatory, but also (dated) a chamber pot or outhouse.

   Synonyms:

   can, chamber, chamber pot, chemical toilet, commode, Cousin John, crapper, gazunder, guzunder, honey bucket

3. (slang) A Western man traveling in East Asia.
4. A male mule.

Proper noun capitalized: John

UK/d͡ʒɒn/US/d͡ʒɑn/

John (plural Johns)

1. A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages.
   • John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths...1852 August, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 114
   • The name I refer to is John. It has been borne by many illustrious men and an innumerable multitude of the obscure. - - - It is as fixed as the English landscape and the procession of seasons. It never becomes wearisome or tarnished. Nothing affects it; nothing can bring it into contempt; it stands...1920, John Collings Squire, “Initials”, in Life and Letters: Essays, Hodder & Stoughton, pages 233–235
   1. (informal) Used generically for a man whose actual name may not be known.
      • a John Doe murder case; the dreaded Dear John letter; if we were to ask John Q. Public his opinion
   2. (informal) Used frequently to form an idea personified, as in John Bull, John Barleycorn (see derivations below).
2. Persons of the Christian Bible: John the Baptist; and names possibly referring to one, two or three persons, frequently called "Saint": John the Apostle, John the Evangelist and John of Patmos (also called John the Divine or John the Theologian).
   • There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:6
3. The Gospel of St John, a book of the New Testament of the Bible. Traditionally the fourth of the four gospels.

   Synonyms:

   Joh.

4. One of the books in the New Testament of the Bible, the epistles of John (1 John, 2 John and 3 John).
5. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Noun (2) capitalized: John

UK/d͡ʒɒn/US/d͡ʒɑn/

John (plural Johns)

1. (UK, slang) A new recruit at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
   • I and the other "Johns," as I soon discovered all new-comers at Sandhurst were, and are still, styled, although at the time I was unconscious of it, managed to troop in after the A company, but although not two minutes after them, found all the different messes already seated and hard at work.1842, The United Service Magazine
   • To avoid bullying, first-year “Johns” (from Johnny Raw) “fagged” for senior classmen known as “Regs.” Fagging included making beds, running messages, and smuggling contraband.2017, Verity McInnis, Women of Empire
2. (US, archaic, slang) Alternative letter-case form of john (“a toilet, lavatory, outhouse, chamber pot”).
3. (Super Smash Bros.) An excuse, chiefly made by a losing player for their poor performance.
   • Remember, no Johns.
   • This is the sound of a John. A John. He wants to wait.2005 December 3, 3:53 from the start, in NO JOHNS, spoken by John Michael "SOS" Howard, published 6 June 2007 via YouTube, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2024