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Rube Goldberg machine

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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A Rube Goldberg machine which makes orange juice.

Etymology

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Named for Rube Goldberg, an American cartoonist, who drew many such machines.

Noun

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Rube Goldberg machine (plural Rube Goldberg machines)

  1. (US) A comical, overcomplicated machine which performs a simple task.
    Synonym: (UK) Heath Robinson contraption
  2. (by extension) Anything that is overly complicated.
    • 2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1]:
      To be overly cynical myself, that is still the macro view. Littlefinger’s execution and the white walkers passing through the rubble of the Wall are just two observations that this enormous Rube Goldberg machine is running on time.

Translations

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