Meaning of golliwog | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A rag doll or mascot in the form of a caricature of a black minstrel.
2. A black person.
   dated, offensive
3. A hairy caterpillar.
   Australia
4. A receiver of stolen goods.
5. Greyhound racing: the jolly dogs.
   slang

Equivalents

Examples

“Lyons was ideal material for the ‘Honest Joe’ image. He had a round chubby face under a mop of curly hair that made him resemble a cross between a koala bear and a golliwog.”

“A golliwog doll, ‘Rickety Kate’, was fixed to the studio wall.”

“Deemed equally ‘harmless’ by its perpetrators is that close relation to the cannibal; the golliwog.[…]Dixon′s brilliant essay ‘All things white and beautiful’ (1976) argues that golliwogs are associated with fear and darkness, quoting an Enid Blyton story of Noddy being trapped and robbed of his car and his clothes, even his ‘dear little hat’ by ‘four big strong golliwogs’. Dixon observes how a four-year-old got the message from the pictures alone, which show the golliwogs driving off and ‘poor little’ Noddy on the ground.”

“But even wooden limbs get tired/ And want a change of play/ So "Golliwogg"/ A "jolly dog"/ Suggests they run away.”

CEFR level