"rubber chicken" meaning in English

See rubber chicken in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: rubber chickens [plural]
Etymology: The name derives from the fact that the quality of the food often served at such events is secondary to the purpose of the events and seldom good. Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} rubber chicken (countable and uncountable, plural rubber chickens)
  1. (literal) A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-nRQ0jDt- Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 51 44 5
  2. (colloquial, uncountable, usually attributive) The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers. Tags: attributive, colloquial, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Food and drink
    Sense id: en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-Nez5Fhzz Disambiguation of Food and drink: 0 100 0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 51 44 5
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rubber, chicken. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-Cqks3DsM

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for rubber chicken meaning in English (4.1kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "The name derives from the fact that the quality of the food often served at such events is secondary to the purpose of the events and seldom good.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rubber chickens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "rubber chicken (countable and uncountable, plural rubber chickens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 44 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The hack comic produced a rubber chicken, to the groans and boos of the audience.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1888 March 17, Bill Nye, “Bill Nye and the Blizzard”, in The World, page 5",
          "text": "Men who have squeaked the rubber chicken on Broadway, or wooed humanity with a fringe of swaying, porpoise-hide shoe-laces, were swallowed up in the gray shadows of the storm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Mark Stolzenberg, How to Be Really Funny, page 63",
          "text": "The rubber chicken is probably the best example of a prop used for schtick.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed."
      ],
      "id": "en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-nRQ0jDt-",
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal) A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 44 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100 0",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Food and drink",
          "orig": "en:Food and drink",
          "parents": [
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1883 November 9, “Odds and Ends”, in Gloucester Citizen, page 4",
          "text": "The bill of fare consisted of an india-rubber chicken and boiled eggs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Jim Klobuchar, Minstrel: My Adventure in Newspapering, page 88",
          "text": "It was the hoedowns and the caucuses and the rubber chicken dinners and the big DFL blowouts at the Minneapolis Auditorium.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, J. A. Jance, Kiss of the Bees, page 33",
          "text": "She had felt the same way about attending political gatherings—the rubber-chicken luncheons and living room campaign coffee hours— back when Brandon had been a candidate for public office.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Rick Mercer, Rick Mercer Report: The Paperback Book, page 291",
          "text": "This is an annual shindig where politicians and members of the media sit down together, have a few beers and eat some rubber chicken, and political leaders of the day make a few silly speeches at their own expense.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, John Bercow, Unspeakable: The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography",
          "text": "What the hell have you devoted all these years to politics for if all you want to do is to work the rubber chicken circuit and hang out with elderly activists!'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Elizabeth Farrelly, Killing Sydney: The Fight for a City's Soul",
          "text": "I found both the rubber chicken and the political offering equally unappetising.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers."
      ],
      "id": "en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-Nez5Fhzz",
      "links": [
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "fundraiser",
          "fundraiser"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, uncountable, usually attributive) The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "colloquial",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rubber, chicken."
      ],
      "id": "en-rubber_chicken-en-noun-Cqks3DsM",
      "links": [
        [
          "rubber",
          "rubber#English"
        ],
        [
          "chicken",
          "chicken#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "rubber chicken"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "en:Food and drink"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The name derives from the fact that the quality of the food often served at such events is secondary to the purpose of the events and seldom good.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rubber chickens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "rubber chicken (countable and uncountable, plural rubber chickens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The hack comic produced a rubber chicken, to the groans and boos of the audience.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1888 March 17, Bill Nye, “Bill Nye and the Blizzard”, in The World, page 5",
          "text": "Men who have squeaked the rubber chicken on Broadway, or wooed humanity with a fringe of swaying, porpoise-hide shoe-laces, were swallowed up in the gray shadows of the storm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Mark Stolzenberg, How to Be Really Funny, page 63",
          "text": "The rubber chicken is probably the best example of a prop used for schtick.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed."
      ],
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal) A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1883 November 9, “Odds and Ends”, in Gloucester Citizen, page 4",
          "text": "The bill of fare consisted of an india-rubber chicken and boiled eggs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Jim Klobuchar, Minstrel: My Adventure in Newspapering, page 88",
          "text": "It was the hoedowns and the caucuses and the rubber chicken dinners and the big DFL blowouts at the Minneapolis Auditorium.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, J. A. Jance, Kiss of the Bees, page 33",
          "text": "She had felt the same way about attending political gatherings—the rubber-chicken luncheons and living room campaign coffee hours— back when Brandon had been a candidate for public office.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Rick Mercer, Rick Mercer Report: The Paperback Book, page 291",
          "text": "This is an annual shindig where politicians and members of the media sit down together, have a few beers and eat some rubber chicken, and political leaders of the day make a few silly speeches at their own expense.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, John Bercow, Unspeakable: The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography",
          "text": "What the hell have you devoted all these years to politics for if all you want to do is to work the rubber chicken circuit and hang out with elderly activists!'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Elizabeth Farrelly, Killing Sydney: The Fight for a City's Soul",
          "text": "I found both the rubber chicken and the political offering equally unappetising.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "fundraiser",
          "fundraiser"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, uncountable, usually attributive) The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "colloquial",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rubber, chicken."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rubber",
          "rubber#English"
        ],
        [
          "chicken",
          "chicken#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "rubber chicken"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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.

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