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Jack oʹ the Clock

.

The figure which comes out to strike the hours on the bell of a clock. A contraction of Jaquemart (q.v.).

“King Richard. Well, but what’s oʹclock?

Buckingham. Upon the stroke of ten.

K. R. Well, let it strike.

B. Why let it strike?

K. R. Because that, like a jack, thou keepʹst the stroke

Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.”

Shakespeare: Richard III., iv. 2.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.