jack-in-the-box

jack-in-the-box (plural jacks-in-boxes or jacks-in-the-boxes or jack-in-the-boxes or jacks-in-the-box)

1. Children’s toy consisting of a small box from which a male figure pops out unexpectedly after some turnings of a crank.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "Did you venture to call me a liar?" ("No, sir, no!" shouted the accused, and disappeared like a Jack-in-the-box.)

2. (historical) A small but powerful kind of screw, used by burglars to break open safes.
   • 2013, Donald Thomas, The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes:

     It was possible, from underneath, to use the old jack-in-the-box safe-breaker's tool which lay in his gasman's bag.

3. (obsolete) A con-man who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money.

• jack-in-the-box on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Jack o’ the clock