VIII. Jack

Armour consisting of a leather surcoat worn over the hauberk, from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, both inclusive. It was formed by overlapping pieces of steel fastened by one edge upon canvas, coated over with cloth or velvet. In short, it was a surcoat padded with metal to make it sword-proof. These jazerines were worn by the peasantry of the English borders when they journeyed from place to place, and in their skirmishes with moss-troopers.

“Jackes quilted and covered over with leather, fustian, or canvas, over thicke plates of iron that are sowed to the same.”—Lily: Euphues.

¶ Colonel Jack. The hero of Defoe’s novel so called. He is a thief who goes to Virginia, and becomes the owner of vast plantations and a family of slavès.

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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.