Crackerjack is an American word that has been adopted the world over. We will look at the meaning of the word crackerjack, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.
Crackerjack means having a quality of excellence. Crackerjack may be used as an adjective or a noun. It is a closed compound word, which is a word composed of two words that are joined without a space or hyphen between them. The word crackerjack has its roots in the world of American horse racing in the 1880s. At that time, it was usually rendered as two words as in cracker jack to mean a top quality horse. The term migrated to other sports, and eventually, mainstream English. Today, the term is usually written as two words when referring to the American snack of candied popcorn and peanuts that comes in a box. Traditionally, Cracker Jack included a small toy trinket in each box, but the company recently replaced the toy trinket with a QR code. Note that the term crackerjack was in use before the snack was invented in 1893.
Examples
“Dreamgirls”: La Mirada/McCoy Rigby’s production of the 1981 musical about ’60s black R&B groups boasted a crackerjack cast and eye-popping visuals, yielding a vibrant, extraordinary musical and theatrical ride. (The Orange County Register)
They know that there are judges out there, probably thousands of them, who could do a crackerjack job on the bench. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
But I persisted, and one day, when we were walking through Prospect Park in Brooklyn, we bought a box of Cracker Jack and I said, “If the prize in the box is a ring, I get a diamond.” (The Washington Post)