Frankenstein's monster

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English

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Etymology

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In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein assembled a monster from human corpses; it eventually escaped his control.

Proper noun

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Frankenstein's monster

  1. Frankenstein's monster, the creature from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel

Noun

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Frankenstein's monster (plural Frankenstein's monsters)

  1. A thing that is cobbled together from parts of other things.
    • 1991, Euan George Nisbet, Living Earth: A Short History of Life and Its Home, page 84:
      Like the English language, the eukaryote cell is a chimera, a Frankenstein's monster, assembled from bits and pieces of genetic information...
    • 1995, Roger Horrocks, Jo Campling, Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture, page 141:
      He is like a Frankenstein's monster in reverse: everything that is pretty is combined together to produce a perfect androgyne.
  2. A creation that overpowers or slips out of the control of its creator, often proceeding to turn on its creator or harm others.
    • 1968, Harold Joseph Laski, Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, page 109:
      They created a Frankenstein's monster which they did not imagine could grow out of their control.
    • 1977, Norman R. Augustine, Augustine's Laws, page 68:
      Somehow, the law does not always seem to serve those who created it, becoming at times a Frankenstein's monster of sorts.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Further reading

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