jackal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an Old World nocturnal canine mammal closely related to the dog

   After the sun went down, the jackals ran around the town looking for scraps to eat.

2. 2
   noun

   Any of certain wild canids of the genera Lupulella and Canis, native to the tropical Old World and smaller than a wolf.

   In passing, it also mentions how the jackal and the tiger acquired their reddish spots. All of the animals referred to, except the deer, have tricksterlike personalities, both in this tale and in other story contexts. But the jackal is the most renowned of all for roguishness.

3. 3
   noun

   A person who performs menial or routine tasks; a dogsbody.

   A nephew of hers, after receiving some learning at her ladyship's expence, got a commission, and fell upon the field of Waterloo; another is still at her heels, as a sort of jackall to fetch and carry when required.

4. 4
   verb

   To perform menial or routine tasks

   They have jackalled for the great beast, to pick in turns the bones of each other; they have subserved those above, to oppress and defraud those below; and they are suffering, and, so far as classes can, justly suffering their purgation.

From French chacal, chacale, checale, schakal, ciacale, from Turkish çakal, from Persian شغال (šaġâl), borrowed from Sanskrit शृगाल (śṛgāla, “jackal”).

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