Definition of "jack-in-office" in English

noun

1. (derogatory) A self-important but minor official.

   • 1967, C. P. Snow, foreword to A Mathematician's Apology, G. H. Hardy, 1948. Chapel at Trinity was compulsory. Hardy told the Dean, …, that he could not conscientiously attend. The Dean, who must have been a jack-in-office, insisted that Hardy should write to his parents and tell them so.