jacks

British

/ dʒæks /

noun

Sometimes called: knucklebones. (functioning as singular) a game in which bone, metal, or plastic pieces ( jackstones ) are thrown and then picked up in various groups between bounces or throws of a small ball

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of jacks

C19: shortened from jackstones , variant of checkstones pebbles

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A lonely coyote stalks the barren ground around oil pump jacks; a dead deer, its eye milky white, lies on a fern-like blanket of boughs.

From The Wall Street Journal

A large British contingent descended on Livigno Snow Park on Sunday to watch Bankes and Nightingale, with huge union jacks plastered with their images pinned to the front of the fan zone.

From BBC

Watching young Reiner play jacks in the living room, he thought the kid was hilarious.

From Los Angeles Times

I feel like doing jumping jacks or a backflip or participating in an ice cream–eating contest.

From Literature

“Simon says, jumping jacks, I don’t care what you call it! Now step aside and let me pass.”

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023