golliwog

plural golliwogs · alternative golliwogg · alternative gollywog

1. A rag doll or mascot in the form of a caricature of a black minstrel.

   A golliwog doll, ‘Rickety Kate’, was fixed to the studio wall.

   2010, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio, page 286

   1 more example

   Lyons was ideal material for the ‘Honest Joe’ image. He had a round chubby face under a mop of curly hair that made him resemble a cross between a koala bear and a golliwog.

   1983, Norman E. Lee, John Curtin, Saviour of Australia, page 47

2. datedoffensiveA black person.

   1 more example

   Deemed equally ‘harmless’ by its perpetrators is that close relation to the cannibal; the golliwog.[…]Dixon′s brilliant essay ‘All things white and beautiful’ (1976) argues that golliwogs are associated with fear and darkness, quoting an Enid Blyton story of Noddy being trapped and robbed of his car and his clothes, even his ‘dear little hat’ by ‘four big strong golliwogs’. Dixon observes how a four-year-old got the message from the pictures alone, which show the golliwogs driving off and ‘poor little’ Noddy on the ground.

   2002, Gillian Klein, Reading Into Racism: Bias in Children′s Literature and Learning Materials, page 41

3. AustraliaA hairy caterpillar.First known use 1920.
4. A receiver of stolen goods.First known use ca 1930.
5. slangGreyhound racing: the jolly dogs.

   But even wooden limbs get tired/ And want a change of play/ So "Golliwogg"/ A "jolly dog"/ Suggests they run away.

   1895, Bertha Upton, The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls — and a ‘Golliwogg’