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the jacks

the JAKSnounInformal

A Hiberno-English slang term. Browse all Irish slang.

What it means

  1. The toilet, especially a public one in a pub. Always plural and always with 'the'.

In use

  • Where's the jacks in here?

  • The jacks are locked, you have to ask at the bar.

Where it comes from

From 'jakes', a sixteenth-century English word for a privy, used by Shakespeare. England replaced it; Ireland kept it and pluralised it. The American 'john' comes from the same family of names.

First attested: 16th century as jakes