Heath Robinson

English

Etymology

In reference to the drawings by William Heath Robinson.

Noun

Heath Robinson (plural Heath Robinsons)

1. (chiefly UK, attributive) Anything ingenious (and often complex) but absurdly impractical or even useless.
   • 1998, Samuel Lieu, Manichaeism in Central Asia and China, →ISBN, page 16:

     Among the many Heath Robinson contraptions he devised were the Light Vessels (the Sun and the Moon) which would ferry the rescued Light-Particles back to their land of origin along the Milky Way.

   • 2014, Ivan M. Donaldson, The Truant from Medicine: A Memoir‎^[1], →ISBN:

     And that is how we came to mow our lake weed, although we eventually found it easier to tie two ropes, one to each side of the inner tube, and to pull the Heath Robinson contraption back and forwards across the water with Chris and I standing on opposite banks, each holding one of the lines.

Related terms

• Heath Robinsonesque
• Heath Robinsonian

See also

• Rube Goldberg machine