"pushmi-pullyu" meaning in All languages combined

See pushmi-pullyu on Wiktionary

Adjective [English]

Etymology: From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle. Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} pushmi-pullyu (not comparable)
  1. Conflicting or contradictory. Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-pushmi-pullyu-en-adj-Kl3a50vL
  2. in teleosemantics, being a representation with both indicative and imperative content. Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-pushmi-pullyu-en-adj-QkTmSRB2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 7 56 37
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pushme-pullyou

Noun [English]

Forms: pushmi-pullyus [plural]
Etymology: From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle. Head templates: {{en-noun}} pushmi-pullyu (plural pushmi-pullyus)
  1. A person who behaves in a conflicting or contradictory manner.
    Sense id: en-pushmi-pullyu-en-noun-IM20X-NO
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pushme-pullyou

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for pushmi-pullyu meaning in All languages combined (3.3kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushmi-pullyus",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pushmi-pullyu (plural pushmi-pullyus)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2015 April 21, Julie Burchill, “Meet the Cry-Bully: a hideous hybrid of victim and victor”, in The Spectator",
          "text": "This is the age of the Cry-Bully, a hideous hybrid of victim and victor, weeper and walloper. They are everywhere, these duplicit Pushmi-Pullyus of the personal and the political",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who behaves in a conflicting or contradictory manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-pushmi-pullyu-en-noun-IM20X-NO",
      "links": [
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ],
        [
          "contradictory",
          "contradictory"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pushme-pullyou"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pushmi-pullyu"
  ],
  "word": "pushmi-pullyu"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "pushmi-pullyu (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, B. J. Wylie, Enough: Lifestyle and Financial Planning for Simpler Living, Northstone Publishing",
          "text": "It's one of the most characteristic behavior patterns of human beings, this pushmepullyou approach to life. We say one thing and do another […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 20, The Independent",
          "text": "They don't want some sort of hopeless compromise, some perpetual pushme-pullyou arrangement in which we stay half-in and half-out in a political no man's land - with no more ministers round the table in Brussels and yet forced to obey EU laws.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Conflicting or contradictory."
      ],
      "id": "en-pushmi-pullyu-en-adj-Kl3a50vL",
      "links": [
        [
          "Conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ],
        [
          "contradictory",
          "contradictory"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "7 56 37",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, R. G. Millikan, “On Reading Signs: Some Differences Between Us and Others”, in D.K. Oller, U. Griebel, editors, Evolution of Communication Systems, MIT Press, page 22",
          "text": "What […] are the steps from […] the sort of inarticulate pushmi-pullyu comprehensions the bee has and the dim sort of pushmi-pullyu comprehension that mediates responses to behavior releasers, to articulate, well-differentiated, and uncommitted human beliefs and desires […]?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "in teleosemantics, being a representation with both indicative and imperative content."
      ],
      "id": "en-pushmi-pullyu-en-adj-QkTmSRB2",
      "links": [
        [
          "teleosemantics",
          "teleosemantics"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pushme-pullyou"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pushmi-pullyu"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushmi-pullyus",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pushmi-pullyu (plural pushmi-pullyus)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2015 April 21, Julie Burchill, “Meet the Cry-Bully: a hideous hybrid of victim and victor”, in The Spectator",
          "text": "This is the age of the Cry-Bully, a hideous hybrid of victim and victor, weeper and walloper. They are everywhere, these duplicit Pushmi-Pullyus of the personal and the political",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who behaves in a conflicting or contradictory manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ],
        [
          "contradictory",
          "contradictory"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "pushme-pullyou"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pushmi-pullyu"
  ],
  "word": "pushmi-pullyu"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Pushmi-pullyu, the name of a fictional animal with two heads at opposing ends of its body, along with very sharp horns on each side of the head, in Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "pushmi-pullyu (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, B. J. Wylie, Enough: Lifestyle and Financial Planning for Simpler Living, Northstone Publishing",
          "text": "It's one of the most characteristic behavior patterns of human beings, this pushmepullyou approach to life. We say one thing and do another […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 20, The Independent",
          "text": "They don't want some sort of hopeless compromise, some perpetual pushme-pullyou arrangement in which we stay half-in and half-out in a political no man's land - with no more ministers round the table in Brussels and yet forced to obey EU laws.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Conflicting or contradictory."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ],
        [
          "contradictory",
          "contradictory"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, R. G. Millikan, “On Reading Signs: Some Differences Between Us and Others”, in D.K. Oller, U. Griebel, editors, Evolution of Communication Systems, MIT Press, page 22",
          "text": "What […] are the steps from […] the sort of inarticulate pushmi-pullyu comprehensions the bee has and the dim sort of pushmi-pullyu comprehension that mediates responses to behavior releasers, to articulate, well-differentiated, and uncommitted human beliefs and desires […]?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "in teleosemantics, being a representation with both indicative and imperative content."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "teleosemantics",
          "teleosemantics"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "pushme-pullyou"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pushmi-pullyu"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.