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Wiktionary

joe

See also: Joe, Joe., and joë

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From the proper name Joe.

Noun

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joe (plural joes)

  1. (informal) A male; a guy; a fellow.
    I'm just an ordinary joe.
  2. (UK, slang) A spy, especially a double agent.
    • 2001, Tod Hoffman, Le Carré's Landscape, page 193:
      Name me a joe in a bad country ... who doesn't fall for a pretty face if she's on his side against the world.
    • 2004, Richard W. Cutler, Counterspy, page 96:
      Soviet troops were permitted to enter the American sector, where they could easily capture and torture an agent to confirm the existence of a Joe house, then cripple American espionage efforts by kidnapping a nest of spies in one fell swoop.
    • 2009, John Fleming, Stoppard's Theatre: Finding Order amid Chaos, page 178:
      Then Hapgood turned him into a joe — that is, he works for the British.
    • 2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 215:
      Lamb didn't look any different, was still a soft fat rude bastard, still dressed like he'd been thrown through a charity shop window, but Jesus, River thought—Lamb was a joe.
  3. (historical) Synonym of johannes (“An old Portuguese gold coin bearing a figure of John V of Portugal.”)
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter XCIX. The Doubloon”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 481:
      I have seen doubloons before now in my voyagings; your doubloons of old Spain, your doubloons of Peru, your doubloons of Chili, your doubloons of Bolivia, your doubloons of Popayan; with plenty of gold moidores and pistoles, and joes, and half joes, and quarter joes.
    • 1861, “United States Mint”, “Chapter I. Establishment of Mint—Standard of Coins—Laws Regulating Coinage—Progress of Coinage—Precious Metals in the Country”, in Eighty Years’ Progress of the United States: […], volume I, New York: […]. Worcester, Mass.: L. Stebbins, page 213, column 1:
      Guineas, joes, half joes, doubloons, and pistoles of various origin constituted the gold currency, while the silver was mostly the Spanish American dollar and its fractions: the half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth, with the pistareen and half pistareen.
    • 1863 August, The Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History and Biography of America, volume VII, number 8, New York: Charles B. Richardson, […]. London: Trübner & Co., page 245, column 2:
      In the olden time the currency, you know, was a l[sic] in gold and silver, joes, half-joes (Johannes), pistoles, moidores, doubloons, pistareens, ninepences (12+1⁄2 cents), and fourpence-half-pennies (6+1⁄4 cents) or “fippenny-bits.”
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Uncertain. See cup of joe for more.

Noun

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joe (countable and uncountable, plural joes)

  1. (chiefly US, informal) Coffee.
    • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
      45 have some joe Week's almost over—now bring it home. Austrian researchers found that a cup of java resulted in a 45-minute boost of brain activity in the regions responsible for attention, concentration, and short-term memory.
    • 2010, Melody Carlson, A Mile in My Flip-Flops, page 221:
      Some people say I make the best joe in town. But you know there's a kiosk over on Eighteenth Avenue, not that far from here.
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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joe (plural joes)

  1. (Scotland) Alternative form of jo (“a darling or sweetheart”)
    • 1836 Joanna Baillie The Phantom, Act 2. Provost, to a maidservant.
      I fear, my joe, the good that I can do him,
      Or ev'n the minister, if he were here,
      Would be but little.

Dalmatian

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Alternative forms

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Pronoun

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joe f (plural jai)

  1. (third-person feminine singular pronoun, oblique case) her
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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)

Interjection

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joe

  1. (colloquial) bye
    Joe! - Bye!

Norman

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French joe, from Vulgar Latin *gauta. Compare French joue.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈʒo], [ˈʒow]
  • IPA(key): [ˈʒu] (borrowed from French?)

Noun

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joe f (plural joes)

  1. cheek

References

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Old French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Vulgar Latin *gauta. Attested from ca. 1100 onwards.

Pronunciation

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(central pronunciations)

Noun

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joe oblique singular, f (oblique plural joes, nominative singular joe, nominative plural joes)

  1. cheek
  2. jaw

Descendants

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References

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Sranan Tongo

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Pronoun

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joe

  1. Superseded spelling of yu.
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