supple-jack

supple-jack is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.(a) A climbing shrub (Berchemia volubilus) of the Southern United States, having a tough and pliable stem. (b) A somewhat similar tropical American plant (Paullinia Curassavica); also, a walking stick made from its stem. He was in form and spirit like a supple-jack, . . . yielding, but tough; though he bent, he never broke. W. Irving. Note: This name is given to various plants of similar habit in different British colonies.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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