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juggernautish

 - 3 dictionary results

Jug⋅ger⋅naut

  [juhg-er-nawt, -not]
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–noun
1. (often lowercase) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.
2. (often lowercase) anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.
3. Also called Jagannath. an idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.
Origin:
1630–40; < Hindi Jagannāth < Skt Jagannātha lord of the world (i.e., the god Vishnu or Krishna), equiv. to jagat world + nātha lord

Related forms:
Jug⋅ger⋅naut⋅ish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Cultural Dictionary

Juggernaut [(jug-uhr-nawt)]

A deity in Hinduism, considered a deliverer from sin. His image is carried on a large wagon in an annual procession in India, and according to legend the wagon crushed worshipers who threw themselves under it.

Note: A force, an idea, or a system of beliefs that overcomes opposition — especially if it does so ruthlessly — is called a “juggernaut.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

juggernaut 
1638, "huge wagon bearing an image of the god Krishna," especially that at the town of Puri, drawn annually in procession in which (apocryphally) devotees allowed themselves to be crushed under its wheels in sacrifice. Altered from Jaggernaut, a title of Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu), from Hindi Jagannath, lit. "lord of the world," from Skt. jagat "world" + natha-s "lord, master." The first European description of the festival is by Friar Odoric (c.1321). Fig. sense of "anything that demands blind devotion or merciless sacrifice" is from 1854.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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