yellow jack
Preserved but no longer current.
The yellow fever. A very large number of appliances and parts of appliances are called by this name; such as the jack, bottle-jack, or roasting-jack, used for turning the meat when roasting before an open fire; the jack used for lifting heavy weights; the rough stool or wooden horse used for sawing timber on; etc.
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 “yellow jack” mean?
The yellow fever. A very large number of appliances and parts of appliances are called by this name; such as the jack, bottle-jack, or roasting-jack, used for turning the meat when roasting before an open fire; the jack used for lifting heavy weights; the rough stool or wooden horse used for sawing timber on; etc.
Is “yellow jack” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.