A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Jakes

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 1037

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 1037

Jakes. n.s. [Of uncertain etymology.] A house of office.

I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the walls of jakes with him. Shakespeare's King Lear.

          Their sordid avarice rakes
In excrements, and hires the very jakes. Dryden's Juvenal.

Some have fished the very jakes for papers left there by men of wit. Swift.

Sources: Dryden, John (563) · Shakespeare's King Lear (102) · Swift, Jonathan (222)

Search for this word in: American Heritage · Cambridge · Dictionary.com · The Free Dictionary · Longman · Merriam-Webster · OneLook · Wiktionary · Wordnik

Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Jakes." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Last modified: November 6, 2012. http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=3606.

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