subs. phr. (old).—A beggar shamming shipwreck. Hence a generic term of contempt.
c. 1530. PONET [MAITLAND, The Reformation in England, 74]. Albeit one Boner (a bare WHIPPE IACKE) for lucre of money toke vpon him to be thy father, and than to mary thy mother, yet thou wast persone Sauages bastarde.
1611. MIDDLETON, The Roaring Girle, v. 1. A mere WHIP-JACK, and that is, in the commonwealth of rogues, a slave that can talk of sea-fight.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. WHIP-JACKS, c. the tenth Order of the Canting Crew; Counterfeit Mariners Begging with false Passes, pretending Shipwrecks, great Losses at Sea, etc., narrow escapes; telling dismal Stories, having learnt Tar-terms on purpose, but are meer Cheats.
1753. RICHARDSON, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, vi. 156. Sir Charles Grandison is none of your gew-gaw WHIP-JACKS that you know not where to have.
1791. R. GOADBY, The Life and Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew. Swaddlers, Irish toyls, WHIP-JACKS.
