jacktar
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From jack (“common man or sailor”) + tar (“tarpaulin”), used for a common sailor dating back to the 1600s.
Noun
[edit]jacktar (plural jacktars)
- (British) A sailor in the Royal Navy.
- 1857, “The Masker's Song”, in Robert Bell, editor, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England[1]:
- 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.
- 1887, “Ruddigore”, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music)[2], Act II:
- I am a jolly Jack Tar, / My star, / And you are the fairest, / The richest and rarest / Of innocent lasses you are, / By far