"squirrel cage" meaning in English

See squirrel cage in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: squirrel cages [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} squirrel cage (plural squirrel cages)
  1. A circular cage for a squirrel or other small animal, which rotates vertically as the animal runs at the bottom. Synonyms: squirrel wheel, squirrel's cage Derived forms: squirrel-cage motor Related terms: hamster wheel
    Sense id: en-squirrel_cage-en-noun-PpNW1D6G Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 31 33
  2. (figuratively, by extension) A tedious, repetitive, unfulfilling activity or situation, especially one in which no progress is achieved. Tags: broadly, figuratively
    Sense id: en-squirrel_cage-en-noun-FXPRABrR Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 31 33
  3. (engineering) Any other device, such as a fan or rotor, that resembles a squirrel cage in form. Categories (topical): Engineering
    Sense id: en-squirrel_cage-en-noun-Ao~SPnS- Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 31 33 Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for squirrel cage meaning in English (3.5kB)

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          "_dis1": "56 2 41",
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          "ref": "1944, B. R. McElderry Jr., “The Grapes of Wrath: In the Light of Modern Critical Theory”, in College English, volume 5, number 6, page 312",
          "text": "The poor stuggle for riches, success, power; but those who achieve them die out. Life is, then a sort of squirrel cage or treadmill.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1986, Madison Smartt Bell, Straight Cut (2011 Open Road Media edition), (Google Preview)",
          "text": "So maybe I wouldn't even call Kevin. . . . Or I could just see him socially. . . . Or I could . . . . Or, or, or. . . . I was still running around in this squirrel cage when the big gray poisonous cloud that usually covers New York materialized just off the right wing."
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          "ref": "1996 May 19, Edward R. Lipinski, “Home Clinic: Time to Inspect Air-Conditioners”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-02-13",
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  "wikipedia": [
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  "word": "squirrel cage"
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          "text": "So maybe I wouldn't even call Kevin. . . . Or I could just see him socially. . . . Or I could . . . . Or, or, or. . . . I was still running around in this squirrel cage when the big gray poisonous cloud that usually covers New York materialized just off the right wing."
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English 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.