crackerjack

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The Word of the Day for November 10 is:

crackerjack   \CRACK-er-jack\   adjective 
     : of striking ability or excellence

Example sentence:
     Allison's brother, a crackerjack computer technician, was able to quickly 
fix the problems with her laptop.

Did you know?
     The late 19th-century pairing of "crack" and "jack" to form "crackerjack" 
topped off a long history for those words. "Cracker" is an elongation of 
"crack," an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from 1793. 
Prior to that, "crack" was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb 
meaning "to boast." (The verb use evolved from the expression "to crack a 
boast," which came from the sense of "crack" meaning "to make a loud sharp 
sound.") "Jack" has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s, as in 
"jack-of-all-trades." "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring 
to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. You may also 
know "Cracker Jack" as a snack of candied popcorn and peanuts. That trademarked 
name dates from the 1890s.





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