juggernaut
noun
- a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.ə.nɔːt/ / /ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.ɚ.nɔt/ / /ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.ɚ.nɑt/
name
Etymology: See juggernaut.
- Jagannath, the Hindu deity Vishnu's avatar Krishna.
“'...for this girl, this child, the native of a Christian Land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut - this girl is - a liar!'”
noun
Etymology: Borrowed in the 17th century into British English in India, either through Hindustani جَگَنَّاتھ (jagannāth) / जगन्नाथ (jagannāth) or directly from Odia ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ (jagannātha), ultimately from Sanskrit ज॒ग॒न्ना॒थ (jagannāthá, “lord of universe”) (Jagannatha), a title for the Hindu deity Vishnu's avatar Krishna. The sense comes from witnessing the Rath Yatra (chariot parade) at Puri, Odisha, a huge annual procession which features a wagon of the idol of Jagannath; pulled with ropes by hundreds of devotees, the wagon develops considerable momentum and becomes unstoppable. The r was not originally pronounced: for non-rhotic dialects of British English, the spelling with -er- accurately suggests the Hindi pronunciation of the second vowel (a schwa); compare e.g. gorm. The spelling of the ending was influenced by the suffix -naut (“traveller, voyager”). Doublet of Jagannath.
- A literal or metaphorical force or object regarded as unstoppable, that will crush all in its path.
“[…] poor Johnny Tetterby staggering under his Moloch of an infant, the Juggernaut that crushes all his enjoyments.”
“Anon Mr. Hoopdriver found himself riding out of the darkness of non-existence, pedalling Ezekiel's Wheels across the Weald of Surrey, jolting over the hills and smashing villages in his course, while the other man in brown cursed and swore at him and shouted to stop his career. There was the Putney heath-keeper, too, and the man in drab raging at him. He felt an awful fool, a- -what was it?--a juggins, ah!--a Juggernaut.”
- A large, cumbersome truck or lorry, especially an articulated lorry.
“Silently and gracefully I free-wheeled across the path of three juggernauts, [...] glided across the hard shoulder and came to rest halfway up a grass bank.”
“I know I swing me Volvo all around you market square. I know you think that lorry drivers, we just don't care. But the streets are so narrow, built so many years ago. They were built for horses' carts, not juggernauts you know.”
- An institution that incites destructive devotion or to which people are carelessly sacrificed.