juggernaut

plural juggernauts

1. 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.

   1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC

   4 more examples

   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.

   1895, H. G. Wells, chapter XII, in The Wheels of Chance

   McCarthy will point to their bad luck but the statistics now show that Wolves have lost four league matches and have claimed one point from a possible 15 - so it may prove to be another difficult season for the Midlands side. In contrast, the Newcastle juggernaut rolls on.

   2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport

   The fact that the juggernaut of Indian English rolls inexorably on, largely unconcerned by the academic arguments taking place about it, is in itself an indicator of an endonormative force in the variety, and this can be traced historically.

   2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 114

   It’s always fun when something massive comes along and sweeps the board, giving everything else a thoroughly good kicking – think Titanic, The Silence of the Lambs, or Lord of the Rings. There’s a sort of deranged, gluttonous feeling, a perverse glee in seeing so many dreams trampled on by a massive cultural juggernaut.

   2015 February 23, “Oscars 2015: 10 things we learned”, in The Guardian (London)

2. IrelandUKderogatorysometimesA 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.

   1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 78

   1 more example

   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.

   2019, “I love my juggernaut”, in The Pothole Song Album, performed by Richie Kavanagh

3. An institution that incites destructive devotion or to which people are carelessly sacrificed.

alternative Jaganaut · alternative Jagarynat · alternative Jagganaut · alternative Jaggernaut · alternative Jagnaut · alternative Juggurnaut

1. HinduismarchaichistoricalJagannath, 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!'

   1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter VII, in Jane Eyre