Jacky Howe

Definition

A type of blue sleeveless shirt worn by sheep shearers and labourers.

Etymology

After the gun shearer John Robert (“Jacky” or “Jackie”) Howe, who in 1890 set a long-standing world record by shearing 321 sheep in 7 hours 40 minutes. He is said to have worn a shirt with the sleeves cut off.

Example Sentences

• "Still, no one has ever thought before of associating a papaw with a “Jacky Howe,” or, say, fruit salad with a flannel shirt."
• "1949, Ruth Park, Poor Man's Orange, in 2010, The Harp in the South Trilogy, Penguin, unnumbered page, He had finished his tea and was sitting in his Jackie Howe, which is a singlet with the sleeves out of it, and called after a famous shearer of the blade days."
• "As the Jacky Howe was identified with the canecutter so too were the canvas sandshoes which were worn till the canvas rotted."