Also 7 giack(e, jawk, 9 jak. [ad. Pg. jaca (in Garcia De Orta, 1563), ad. Malayālam chakka. The earliest European representation of the word is chaqui in Friar Jordanus c. 1328 (Hakl. Soc. 1863, 13): see Yule.] The fruit of a tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) of the East Indies, resembling the bread-fruit, but larger and of coarser quality. Also the tree itself.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 505. Iacas are bigger … and grow out of the bodie of the tree: they are of so many pleasant tastes, but hard to digest.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 183. The Jacks or Giacks … deserve description … the Jacke is for bignesse comparable to a Pumpion.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 67. This side is all covered with Trees of Cocoes, Jawks, and Mangoes.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 319. Banka … abounds in coco nuts, limes, nankas or jacks, fish, turtle, and ratans.
1859. Tennent, Ceylon, II. VII. i. 111. The jak with broad glossy leaves and enormous yellow fruit.
1878. P. S. Robinson, Indian Garden (ed. 2), 49. The monstrous jack that in its eccentric bulk contains a whole magazine of tastes and smells.
b. Comb., as jack-fruit, -timber, -tree, -wood.
1694. T. R., in Phil. Trans., XVIII. 280. A sort of large Club-Moss putting forth of the Jack-Trees and Mango’s.
1789. Saunders, Ibid. LXXIX. 79. Jack and saul timber, are frequently to be met with in the forests and jungles.
1810. Maria Graham, Jrnl. Resid. India (1813), 101 (Y.). The jack-wood, which, at first yellow, becomes on exposure to the air of the colour of mahogany.
1830. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1859), 496. The cook having chosen to roast a jack fruit on a spit.
