bob jack n
1 A playing piece used in the game of jacks; usu in pl: the game of jacks. chiefly NC, VA, KY
1907 News & Observer (Raleigh NC) 15 Sept 11/3 ceNC, He took to the woods, and the wind could have easily played a quiet game of “bob-jack” on his coat tail. 1917 Morning New Bernian (New Bern NC) 22 Apr 6/7, [Advt:] Just Received— . . tops; marbles and bob-jacks. 1927 Courier–Jrl. (Louisville KY) 2 Oct junior sec 3/2 seKY, [Letter from Twila KY:] We are both in the eighth grade. . . Our best sports are basketball, tennis, Bobjacks and reading books or poems. 1944 Primitive Man 17.34 ceVA [Rappahannock Games], The game of “bob-jacks” is usually played with five acorns. 1946 PADS 6.6 NC, Bob jack. . . A right-angled metal crisscross used in the game of bob jacks. Four jacks are used. They are tossed a few inches in the air, and caught, if possible, on the back of the hand. They are swept up with one hand (one or more at a time) from the floor or ground while a bounced rubber ball is in the air. . . Common. 1952 Daily Press (Newport News VA) 26 Apr 7/8, The program will feature several outdoor games contest [sic] which includes horseshoe pitching, bob-jacks, hopscotch, jump rope, volleyball and relays. 1966–70 DARE Tape NJ67, Bob jacks. . . Throw ’em up and catch ’em in your hand like that; NC22, Bob jacks. . . When I first started playin’, we just throwed a bob jack in the air and pick ’em up, but later on they began to play with little balls and let the ball bounce before they’d catch it. 1969–70 DARE (Qu. EE7) Inf NC77, Played bob jacks all the time; (Qu. EE33) Inf NC84, Bob jacks. 2017 Salyersville Independent (KY) 24 Aug (Internet) (as of 1960s), We played jacks a lot in school. We called them Bob-jacks. I had a set that most likely came from my winning stocking. 2017 in 2018 DARE File—Internet ceNC, She used to babysit Mike, Tony , Pam and me when we were growing up. . . She played bob jacks often with me and was quite good at it.
2 A caltrop.
2011 Portelli They Say 313 seKY, “Take two pieces of metal about that long, and bend them and weld them together, I don’t care how you throw one, it’ll always lay with a point up. When a truck goes over it, it ain’t going far. . .” Harlan miners called them “bobjacks.”