Brewer's: Jay

(A). A wanton.

“This jay of Italy ... hath betrayed him.” —Shakespeare: Othello, v. 2.

Jay

A plunger; one who spends his money recklessly; a simpleton. This is simply the letter J, the initial letter of Juggins, who, in 1887, made a fool of himself by losses on the turf.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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