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16 results for: rube goldberg

Dictionary Entries (3 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Gold·berg    Audio Help   [gohld-burg] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.Arthur Joseph, 1908–90, U.S. jurist, statesman, and diplomat: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–65; ambassador to the U.N. 1965–68.
2.Reuben Lucius (“Rube”), 1883–1970, U.S. cartoonist, whose work often depicts deviously complex and impractical inventions.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Rube Goldberg
–noun
1.having a fantastically complicated, improvised appearance: a Rube Goldberg arrangement of flasks and test tubes.
2.deviously complex and impractical: a Rube Goldberg scheme for reducing taxes.
Also, Goldbergian, Rube Goldbergian.

[Origin: 1955–60; after Rube (Reuben) Goldberg]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopedia Articles (10 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Goldberg, Rube (Reuben Lucius Goldberg), 1883-1970, American cartoonist and sculptor, b. San Francisco. After drawing cartoons for San Francisco newspapers, he moved to New York City. There he worked for the New York Evening Mail until his cartoons became syndicated in 1921. Goldberg originated the successful comic strip "Boob McNutt" and the panel series "Foolish Questions." He is known for his drawings of ludicrously intricate machinery meant to perform simple operations. Goldberg worked as a political cartoonist for the New York Sun and later for the New York Journal American. After 1964 he concentrated on sculpture. He is the author of How to Remove the Cotton from a Bottle of Aspirin (1959) and Rube Goldberg vs. the Machine Age (1968).

See biography by P. C. Marzio (1973).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press


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