yellow jack

noun, plural (especially collectively) yel·low jack, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) yel·low jacks for 3.

Informal. quarantine flag.
Pathology. yellow fever.
any carangoid fish, especially a Caribbean food fish, Caranx bartholomaei.

Origin of yellow jack

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Words nearby yellow jack

yellow granadilla, yellow gum, yellow hats, yellow hepatization, yellow honeysuckle, yellow jack, yellow jacket, yellow jasmine, yellow jersey, yellow journalism, yellow lady's-slipper

Example sentences from the Web for yellow jack

  • Yellow-Jack laid his hand on him, and before morning he was dead!

    Cuba Past and Present |Richard Davey

  • We was twenty-four men down on the Ohio with yellow-jack, and not an ounce of anyskeptics did I swallow!

    The House Under the Sea |Sir Max Pemberton

British Dictionary definitions for yellow jack

yellow jack

noun

pathol another name for yellow fever
another name for quarantine flag
any of certain large yellowish carangid food fishes, esp Caranx bartholomaei, of warm and tropical Atlantic waters