Jack the Giant-killer
Preserved but no longer current.
The hero of this old nursery tale owed much of his success to his four marvellous possessions — an invisible coat, a cap of wisdom, shoes of swiftness, and a resistless sword. When he put on his coat no eye could see him ; when he had his shoes on no one could overtake him; his sword would cut through everything; and when his cap was on he knew eyerything he required to know.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Jack the Giant-killer” mean?
The hero of this old nursery tale owed much of his success to his four marvellous possessions — an invisible coat, a cap of wisdom, shoes of swiftness, and a resistless sword. When he put on his coat no eye could see him ; when he had his shoes on no one could overtake him; his sword would cut through everything; and when his cap was on he knew eyerything he required to know.
Is “Jack the Giant-killer” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.