jarkman

jarkman

English

Etymology

jark +‎ -man

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.

2. (obsolete) A writer of begging letters.
   • Beggars' Bush (17th-century play), act 2 scene 1

     And these, what name or title e'er they bear, / Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or Clapper-dudgeon, / Frater, or Abram-man; I speak to all / That stand in fair election for the title / Of king of beggars.

Related terms

• jark

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)