Dictionary

jack-knife en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. A compact folding knife.
   • He kept a jack-knife in his pocket for various tasks.
2. The front-dive pike, in which the body folds and unfolds.
   • It took me hundreds of dives to master even the simple jackknife.
3. An abdominal exercise where knees and torso are raised from a lying position.
4. (colloquial) A semi-trailer truck accident in which the vehicle mimics the closing of a jack-knife.
   • I have seen several jack-knives along that dangerous stretch of road.
5. A game of skill played with a pocket knife in which participants try to throw or flip the knife to stick upright in the ground at specified points or areas.
   • Over at the stable, the men joke and drink whiskey, talk crops and play jack-knife […] 1948, Truman Capote, chapter 1, in Other Voices, Other Rooms, Part One:
6. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative spelling of jackknife.
   alt of jackknife

Forms

Deriveds

jack-knife barber

Relateds

penknife · pocketknife · Swiss Army knife · clasp-knife · switchblade · flick knife

Synonyms

mumblety peg

Translations (24)

fy bûsmês (compact folding knife) · nl zakmes (compact folding knife) · ru складно́й нож (compact folding knife) · de Klappmesser (compact folding knife) · sc lepa (compact folding knife) · ba бәке (compact folding knife) · de Taschenmesser (compact folding knife) · hu bicska (compact folding knife) · pl skok w pozycji łamanej (front-dive pike) · de Klappmesser (abdominal excercise) · fi linkkuveitsi (compact folding knife) · bg чупка (front-dive pike) · fy knyft (compact folding knife) · gl navalla (compact folding knife) · pl wypadek w pozycji łamanej (semi-trailer truck accident) · el σουγιάς (compact folding knife) · ca navalla (compact folding knife) · nl knipmes (compact folding knife) · pl scyzoryk (compact folding knife) · bg сгъваем нож (compact folding knife) · es navaja (compact folding knife) · tr çakı (compact folding knife) · ka საკეცი დანა (compact folding knife) · ka ჯაყვა (compact folding knife)

jack-knife en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. To fold in the middle, as a jackknife does.
   • The cat jackknifed in the air and landed gracefully on its feet.
   • Ten of the freight train's wagons had derailed, two of them foul of the Down Fast. At 2308, the TPO struck one of them, causing the locomotive (86239) to jack-knife and turn so that it was almost touching the end wall of a house in The Russetts, a new-build row that sat close to the line. 2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 50:
   • There was a world inside that tall grass. You could plop yourself down in the middle of it with the scraggly stems against the back of your neck and the endless grasses rising up and jackknifing against the bigbluesky, and the ranch and all of its players would fade into a distant dream. 2009, Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, Pinguin Books, page 37:
2. (colloquial) To cause a semi-trailer truck to fold like a jackknife in a traffic accident.
   • Before I knew what was happening, I'd jack-knifed.
   • Before I knew what was happening, I'd jack-knifed the truck.

Forms

Translations (13)

fi mennä linkkuun (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · pl składać w połowie (to fold in the middle) · fi mennä linkkuun (to fold in the middle) · nl scharen (to fold in the middle) · fi taittua (to fold in the middle) · fi panna linkkuun (to fold in the middle) · pl spowodować wypadek w pozycji łamanej (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · fi olla linkussa (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · fi taittaa (to fold in the middle) · nb sakse (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · pl powodować wypadek w pozycji łamanej (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · fi vetää linkkuun (to cause a semi-trailer truck to fold) · pl złożyć w połowie (to fold in the middle)