jackleg

adjective

jack·​leg ˈjak-ˌleg 

-ˌlāg

1

a

: characterized by unscrupulousness, dishonesty, or lack of professional standards

a jackleg lawyer

b

: lacking skill or training : amateur

a jackleg carpenter

2

: designed as a temporary expedient : makeshift

jackleg noun

Did you know?

Don't call someone jackleg unless you're prepared for that person to get angry with you. Throughout its more than 150-year-old history in English, jackleg has most often been used as a term of contempt and deprecation, particularly in reference to lawyers and preachers. Its form echoes that of the similar blackleg, an older term for a cheating gambler or a worker opposed to union policies. Etymologists know that blackleg appeared over a hundred years before jackleg, but they don't have any verifiable theories about the origin of either term.

Synonyms

• amateur
• avocational
• backyard
• nonprofessional
• Sunday

Examples of jackleg in a Sentence

a toolshed that can be built by any jackleg carpenter who's capable of hitting a nail without smashing his thumb

he did such a jackleg installation of that door frame that now the door won't shut

Word History

Etymology

jack entry 1 + -leg (as in blackleg)

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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