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''jake'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

jake - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

jake (comparative more jake, superlative most jake)

  • (slang) Synonym of OK: adequate, satisfactory, acceptable.
    • ✤ ‘What do you care? Just keep your nose clean and everything will be jake.’1
    • ✤ Wouldn’t you just like to see me now, Marion, wouldn’t you? I’m not bitter. O no. I’m quite calm. Completely relaxed. But when you come to me in Mayfair when things are as they ought to be, don’t try to move in and think things are going to be jake again.2
    • ✤ *I never worry that your love is fake
      I’m free and easy and I’m feelin’ jake *3
    • ✤ Archie Goodwin: Good, good. Now, everything’s provided for. The corn. Everything. Yeah, everything’s jake.
      Nero Wolfe: There’s good slang and there’s bad slang, and that’s bad slang.
      Archie Goodwin: Ah.      4

Noun

jake (countable and uncountable, plural jakes)

  • (US) A juvenile male turkey.
    • ✤ The spring turkey woods are occupied by roaming bands of jakes — year-old males with strong mating urges but inferior body size.5
  • (slang, especially New York, Chicago, MTE, MLE) A police officer, a law enforcement officer (sometimes especially one on foot rather than in a patrol car).
    • ✤ Synonyms: see Thesaurus: police officer
    • ✤ A radio is a box, a razor blade is a ox/fat diamonds is rocks and jakes is cops.6
    • ✤ *And I ain’t trying to see no highway chase with Jake *7
  • (US, slang, uncountable) Jamaica ginger.
    • ✤ It is possible that the governments have found the cause of the poisoned “jake” in their investigations into the Jamaica ginger deaths throughout the South and Southwest.8
  • A Discordian prank involving a large number of people sending bizarre letters or parcels to a targeted individual.
    • ✤ Hello, I’m afraid in some regards I’m too discordian for my own good and I forgot to either write down the jake -dupe’s address, or include it in my repost when I suggested today as jake day…9
    • ✤ It strikes me that organizing a jake over the net is a bad idea, because Hormel could conceivably find out about it before it happens. That’s not going to stop me from participating though.10
    • ✤ Call me old fashioned, but this situation is really inappropriate for a jake. […] I mean that a little girl was seriously injured, […] and we, as Discordians, should have more respect for the holy tradition of the jake, and use its powers only for those situations where it can actually do some good, or at least be worth a good laugh.11
  • (US, slang) A rustic; a yokel.

Verb

jake (third-person singular simple present jakes, present participle jaking, simple past and past participle jaked)

  • (transitive) To play a Discordian prank on (somebody), involving a large number of people sending bizarre letters or parcels to that person.

Etymology

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /dʒeɪk/
  • Audio (Australia): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Printed 2026-09-15.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 109: ↩

  2. 1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, published 1955 (France), page 289: ↩

  3. 1983, Chris Bostock, Dig Wayne, “Just Got Lucky”, performed by JoBoxers: ↩

  4. 2002 May 5, Lee Goldberg et al., “Murder Is Corny”, in Nero Wolfe: ↩

  5. 1998, Jerome B Robinson, In the Turkey Woods: ↩

  6. 1998, Big L, Ebonics (Criminal Slang): ↩

  7. 2004, “99 Problems”, in The Black Album (Jay-Z album), performed by Jay-Z: ↩

  8. 1930, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Administration of Federal Food and Drugs Act: Hearings…, page 1854: ↩

  9. 1993, selvarv, the keeper of Rig, “Today’s impending JAKE!”, in alt.discordia (Usenet): ↩

  10. 1994, Matthew Morse, “StarTrek”, in alt.discordia (Usenet): ↩

  11. 1999, Jeff X. Mink, “My Christmas Card!”, in alt.discordia (Usenet): ↩