DCHP-1 Online

whisky-jack alteration of whisky john, q.v.

• 0 n. a gray, crestless jay, Perisoreus canadensis.

  See also: Canada jay  

  • 1743  (1949)  a white Whisker jack or a Jay Like [bird] wap pis ka John or wap pa whisker John.
  • 1795  (1911)  The . . . Whisky-Jack . . . is very familiar, and . . . so much given to pilfering, that no kind of provisions it can come at, either fresh or salt, is safe from its depredations.
  • 1888  (1890)  They are called by the men Whisky-Jacks . . . they are pretty birds about the size of a jay and of a bluish-grey colour.
  • 1965  They. . . [Indian trappers] had lived on Canada jays, commonly known as whiskey jacks.

• 2 n. Obs. a person trading or selling whisky, especially as an illicit business, to the Indians.

  See also: whisky trader  

  • 1907  (1908)  "There'll be heaps uh fun in the Cypress Hills country when they [the N W M P] get t' runnin' the whisky-jacks out."