Jill of all trades, mistress of none

English

Alternative forms

• Jill of all trades and mistress of none, Jill-of-all-trades and mistress of none, Jill of all trades but mistress of none

Noun

Jill of all trades, mistress of none (plural Jills of all trades, mistresses of none)

1. A woman who has a competent grasp of many skills but who is not outstanding in any one.
   • 1941, Margaretta Byers, “To You Job Hunters, Good Hunting!”, in Help Wanted—Female, New York, N.Y.: Julian Messner, Inc., part 4 (Parting Shots), page 325:

     If you tell him airily you can do a whole lot of things, he thinks immediately, “Jill of all trades, mistress of none.”

   • 1978 February 1, “Positions Vacant: Women and Girls”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, number 43,721, page 33, column 5:

     JILLS of all trades, mistresses of none, to be fully trained to promote sales of Gay Charm Jewellery in all City, Suburban and Country Areas.

   • 1982 July, Patricia M[cGowan] Wald, “Judicial Review of Complex Administrative Agency Decisions”, in The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science; The American Judiciary: Critical Issues, volume 462, Beverly Hills, Calif., London, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 74, column 2:

     We generalist judges touch down daily on every subject from criminal law, to contracts, to labor law, to antitrust, to securities. In a nutshell, we are perceived as Jacks and Jills of all trades, masters or mistresses of none.

   • 1984 August, “Biographical Notes”, in Different Drums: A Second Trade Union Annual, Lancashire Association of Trades Councils, →ISBN, page 95:

     WENDY WHITFIELD lives in Nottingham and is unemployed. “A mother at last, with sometimes fond memories of being an individual. Jill-of-all-trades, Mistress of None—but then, aren’t most women?”

   • 1993, Janis Flores, chapter 32, in Siren Song, New York, N.Y.: Fawcett Gold Medal, →ISBN, page 483:

     “All you have to do is make a cone that widens as it goes up Dom’s arm. It will look medieval enough, and we’ll just glue some hair on the backs of his hands until he turns into the prince. What do you think?” Angie gave her an admiring look. “I think it’ll work. Are you sure you’ve never been a costume designer?” “Jill of all trades, mistress of none. […]”

   • 1990, Ruth Ann Edwards, “Student Staff Training in the Smaller Library”, in Paul M. Gherman, Frances O. Painter, editors, Training Issues and Strategies in Libraries, New York, N.Y., London: The Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 94:

     Students may of necessity be scheduled on their own before they have mastered the range of essential procedures. We risk the syndrome of a Jill of all trades, mistress of none.

   • 1991 April 13, L. Elisabeth Beattie, “Handbook Against Hedonism”, in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., page A 13, column 4:

     And yes, three more self-absorbed offspring round out the family; there’s Fiona, the owner of a trendy restaurant; Jill, the compulsive-spending attorney; and Portia, who at 25 is still a jill-of-all-trades, a mistress of none (trades, that is).

   • 1997, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, “The Land, the Natives, and the Settlers”, in A Social History of American Technology, New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, section I (In the Beginning), chapter section “The European Settlers”, page 16:

     They learned that survival in the New World required men and women to be adept at many skills: jacks-and-jills-of-all-trades, albeit masters and mistresses of none.

   • 2000, Roger Clough, “Direct Care: Task, Theory and Context”, in The Practice of Residential Work, Macmillan Press Ltd, →ISBN, page 58:

     Indeed, residential workers can be seen, whether by themselves or others, to be Jacks and Jills of all trades, masters and mistresses of none.

   • 2011, Andrea Bonior, “When Friendships Go South”, in The Friendship Fix: The Complete Guide to Choosing, Losing, and Keeping Up with Your Friends, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, pages 189–190:

     Having So Many Friendships That You Can’t Keep Up / This Jill-of-all-trades, mistress-of-none approach can sometimes make someone look like they have the best friendships in the world. They’re outgoing, they’re popular, and if they want to throw a barbecue, they can have a houseful of people within two hours clamoring to line up in front of the pickle relish. But if you look closer, a troubling pattern emerges—none of these friendships is particularly long lasting, and there lies a wake of people who have gradually gotten fed up with, or been forgotten by, the Star of the Show.

   • 2012, Sean O’Brien, chapter 16, in Vale of Stars, San Francisco, Calif.: JournalStone, →ISBN, page 197:

     Kahlman was saying, “…and I would submit that any of the Originals would serve as on-the-spot authority, I do think you are strong in both the prerequisites.” “Jill of all trades, mistress of none, Franc?" Yallia said.

Synonyms

• Jill of all trades, master of none

Coordinate terms

• jack of all trades, master of none

Related terms

• jill of all trades

References

• A[nthony] P[aul] Cowie, R[onald] Mackin, I[sabel] R. McCaig (1983) “a jack of all trades (and (a) master of none)”, in Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, volume 2 (Phrase, Clause & Sentence Idioms), Oxford, Oxon: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 323, column 2: “[…] occas a Jill of all trades (and (a) mistress of none) used to describe a woman and derived from the traditional pairing of Jack and Jill, as in the nursery rhyme of that name.”