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Definition 2024


jarkman

jarkman

English

Noun

jarkman (plural jarkmen)

  1. (obsolete) A forger of counterfeit seals, licenses or other documents.
    • 1849, “The Beggars of London”, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume 85:
      Allusion has been made to forged certificates. These were manufactured by a class of mendicants who had something in them of clerkly skill. They were called Jarkmen, Jark being the cant term for a seal.

Related terms

References

  • 1949, John Dover Wilson (compiler), Life in Shakespeare's England. A Book of Elizabethan Prose, Cambridge at the University Press. 1st ed. 1911, 2nd ed. 1913, 8th reprint. In Glossary and Notes. Quoted in plural (jarkmen)