Jackleg
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech adjective
Quick meaning: Jackleg is an adjective meaning (US) Amateur, untrained; incompetent.
Meaning
(US) Amateur, untrained; incompetent.
More Meanings
- (US) Dishonest, unscrupulous.
- (US) Ineptly built or operated; makeshift.
- A type of drill operated by means of compressed air.
- (US) An amateur; an untrained or incompetent person.
- (US) A shyster or con artist; a gambler who cheats; a generally dishonest or reprehensible person.
Example Sentences
At the gas station on the corner, a jackleg work crew was attaching plywood to the windows.
When I went to the so-called authorities for help I ran into jackleg politicians, wheeler-dealers, henchmen, finaglers and wire-pullers.
Villard’s great fortune should not be allowed to “dangle” in plain sight of “jack-leg lawyers,” while he, Parkins, awaited final results of the proceedings.
1957, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, Wolfbane, Chapter 11, in Galaxy Science Fiction, He was a doer, not a thinker; his skills were the skills of an artisan, a tinkerer, a jackleg mechanic.
Word Forms
- jacklegged
- jacklegs
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include jacklegged, janky, jackassed, raggedy-ass, patzerish, jank.
Related Dictionary Tools
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.