DCHP-1 Online

jacklight ((n.))

• 1 n. a light used at night to attract fish.

  See also: fishing light  flambeau  jack (def. 2)  light-jack  

  • In Canada both the practice and the device were taken over from the Indians, who used torches, often shielded by basketlike hoods, to lure fish into position to be speared easily.

  • 1793  (1911)  [Large torches of white birch bark being carried in the boat, the blaze of light attracts the fish, when the men are dextrous in spearing.]
  • 1849  The night was calm, which was favourable for the jack-light.
  • 1905  The Jack-light was made of fat pine knots (knots full of pitch), or hickory bark placed in a basket made of hoop iron hung up to a pole at one end of the boat.
  • 1956  Some fish were taken at night with jacklights from a canoe or even through the ice. . . .

• 2 n. a light used at night in hunting deer, intended to daze the quarry.

  • 1827  (1829)  [Deluding deer at night with a lantern and candle, and then lodging a slug in their vitals, seems to be a favourite murdering kind of sport with the traversing tribes of the wild rivers of Canada.]
  • 1883  In this respect it stands far ahead of . . . shooting him by the jack-light after night by the marshy side of river or lake where he comes to drink. . . .
  • 1958  Two Masham men were fined $100 each, plus costs and their hunting equipment was confiscated after they were found guilty of jack-light hunting. . . .