Jack at a pinch

English

Proper noun

Jack at a pinch

1. (informal, archaic) A person whose assistance is sought only in an emergency.
   • 1839, The Cottager's Monthly Visitor, volume 19, page 270:

     "Nay, not I; it is a pretty thing to expect me to wash them; you may take them back again, and say, as Sally had them before, she may wash them now, for me; I am not going to be 'Jack at a pinch,' I can tell you."

Related terms

• in a pinch