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Glite Dictionary
🪑 Poor quality 🧑‍💼 A low-quality seller
cheapjack

cheapjack

9.3
A person who sells poor quality goods in a showy way
  • noun
  • /ˈtʃipˌdʒæk/
  • Offensive
translation icon : vendedor de baratijas (despectivo)
  • At the flea market, I encountered a cheapjack who was trying to sell fake designer bags.

Examples

  • The cheapjack 90s hip-hop videos I found there didn't change anything in me, although they did introduce me to some really good songs not getting radio play, but they were finally and mainly a source of comfort for me in a very uncomfortable time.

    Blog text (8)

  • Sweepstakes odds for an all-expenses-paid alien vacation giveaway, no less! Made it safe to exhibit a cheapjack largesse and say:

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The cheapjack merchant sold electronic gadgets that broke within days of purchase.

  • Many people were disappointed with the cheapjack furniture that fell apart after a week.

Synonyms

huckster
vscheapjack
  • Offensive
12 8.6

A person who sells cheap goods in a pushy or dishonest way

focuses on low prices and showy sales rather than deceitful tactics
schlockmeister
vscheapjack
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person who makes or sells cheap, low quality goods to make money

focuses on selling rather than producing the poor goods
cheap-jack
vscheapjack
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person who sells poor-quality goods in a loud, showy way

is the same idea but written without a hyphen
shlockmeister
vscheapjack
  • Offensive
9.9

A person who sells low-quality goods in a flashy, dishonest way

is the neutral term used more generally not just in slang
slop-seller
vscheapjack
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who offers cheap ready-made clothes for working people

is broader covering any low-quality goods sold showily not only clothing

How Dishonest

swindler
15 5.4
cheapjack
  • Offensive
9.3
peddler
8 5.7
seller
257 1.0
merchant
203 2.1

Surface Forms

cheapjack singular
cheapjacks plural

Morphology

cheapjack = cheap + jack (semi-transparent) = cheap + jack

The noun is transparently formed as a compound meaning a person associated with 'cheap' goods, but the pejorative and agentive implication of 'jack' may be unfamiliar.

Etymology

Cheapjack mixes cheap ('inexpensive') and jack ('man' or 'seller'), and it originally named showy market sellers who sold low-quality items. So a cheapjack is a person who sells poor-quality goods at low prices, often in a loud or pushy way.