OED "J"
Terms
undefined, object
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- jackanapes
-
1 an impertinent person
2 a tame monkey - jackleg
-
1 an incompetent, unskillful, or dishonest person
2 a person employed to break a strike - Jacobean
-
relating to reign (1406-37) of James I of England
(furniture = dark oak; a person living in thie period) - Jacobin
-
1 a member of democratic club est in Paris in 1789; radical/ruthless group formed after French Rev.
2 an extreme political radical
3 Dominican friar - Jacobite
- supporter of the deposed James II and his descendants in their claim to the British throone after the Rev of 1688.
- jacquard
-
an apparatus with perforated cards, fitted to aloom to facilitate the weaving of figured and brocaded fabrics.
2 a fabric made on a loom ith such a device, with an intricate variegated pattern. - jalousie
- a blind or shutter made of a row of angled slats
- Janus
-
1 an ancinet Italian deity, guardian of doorways and gates and protector of the state in time of war. He is usually represented w/ two facews, so that he looks both forward and backward.
2 (also Janus-faced) having a dual function, purpose, attitude
3 hypocritical; two-faced - japan
-
a hard, dark enamellike varnish containing asphalt, used to give a black gloss to metal objects
2 a kind of varnish in which pigments are ground, typically used to imitate lacquer on wood - jape
- a practical joke; say or do something in jest or mockery
- jargon
-
special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand
2 a from of language regarded as barbarous, debased, or hybrid. - jaundice
-
a medical condition with yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes, arising from excess of the pigment bilirubin and typically caused by obstruction of the bile duct, by liver disease, or by excessive breakdwon of red blood cells.
2 bitterness, resentment, or envy - jaundiced
-
having jaundice
2 affected by bitterness, resentment, or envy - jaunty
- lively, cheerful, self-confident
- jejune
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"ji-joon"
1 naive, simplistic, and superficial
2 (of ideas or writings) dry and uninteresting - je ne sais quoi
- a quality that cannot be described or named easily
- jeremiad
- a long, mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes
- Jesuit
- member of the Society of Jesus, a Rom. Catholic order of preists founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier, and others in 1534, to do missionary work. Opposed Reformation.
- jetsam
- unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, esp. material that has been discarded to lighten a vessel in distress.
- jettison
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throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship
2 abandon or discard (someone or something that is not wanted) - jeu d'esprit
- a lightheared display of wit and clverness, esp. in a work of literature.
- Jezebel
- a shameless or immoral woman.
- jib
-
1 triangular sail set off of the mast
2 projecting arm of a crane
3 of an animal (i.e. horse) stop and refuse to go on
4 (of a person) unwilling to do or accept something - jibe
- to be in accord with; to agree
- jinn
- (in Arabian and Muslim mythology) an intelligent spirit of lower rank than angels, able to appear in human and animal forms and to possess humans.
- jive
-
1 a thing, esp. talk, that is deceptive or worthless
2 talk nonsense - jocose
- playful or humorous
- jocular
- fond or characterized by joking; humorous or playful
- jocund
- cheerful and lighthearted
- joie de vivre
- exuberant enjoyment of life
- joinder
- (esp in law) the action of bringing parties together; union.
- joility
-
lively and cheerful activity or celebration
2 the quality of being cheerful - jubilee
-
a special anniversary of an event, esp. one celebrating 25 or 50 yrs of a reign or activity.
2 (in Jewish history) a year of emancipation and restoration, observed every fifty years. - judicature
- the administration of justice (noun)
- juncture
- set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary (e.g. distinguishing I scream from ice cream)
- junket
-
a dish of sweetened and flavored curds of milk, often served with fruit
2 an extravagant trip or celebration, in particular one enjoyed by a government official at public expense - junta
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a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force
2 a deliberative or administrative council in Spain or Portugal - jurisprudence
-
the theory or philosophy of law
2 a legal system - jurist
-
an expert in or writer on law
2 a lawyer or judge - juror
-
1 member of jury
2 a person taking an oath, esp. on of allegiance - jussive
- expressing a command
- justify
- (in printing) adjust (a line of type or piece of text) so that the print fills a space evenly or forms a straight edge at the margin
- juvenescence
- the state or period of being young
- juvenile
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of or relationg to young birds or other animals
2 all the other usual meanings - juvenilia
- works produced by an author or artist while still young
- juvenlize
- make or keep young or youthful; arrest the development of