John Wayne
69
4.4
- proper noun
- /dʒɒn weɪn/
- He admired John Wayne for his performances as a heroic cowboy.
- John Wayne movies
- actor John Wayne
Examples
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I always respected him, and he was the closest guy I ever knew who was like a living version of John Wayne.
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How about Homer Bailey, the bomber pilot in a John Wayne WWII movie?
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My hero was John Wayne.
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We would watch John Wayne movies together and In the Heat of the Night, his favorite show.
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Some will say the act is old, but Vaughn could do this as long as John Wayne played a cowboy, as far as I'm concerned.
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Anyone over fifty years of age who has even glanced at a western film or television show sometime in his or her life would know the distinctive voice and imposing figure of actor John Wayne.
Academic text (2014) -
Opened in 1964, the restaurant's décor includes wagon wheels, steer horns, and photos of Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood.
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In the movie "True Grit", John Wayne plays a determined U.S. Marshal.
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Many consider John Wayne to be one of the greatest icons of American cinema.
Synonyms
1
7.2
A nickname for the American actor John Wayne, who often played tough heroes
Surface Forms
Morphology
John + Wayne
“John Wayne” is a proper name identifying a specific historical person (a famous American actor), and this referential/encyclopedic meaning is not compositionally derived from the constituent given names “John” and “Wayne.” A learner who knows the individual names would not be able to infer the biographical/occupational information (that he was a legendary film actor), so the expression is not transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
John Wayne is the name of an American movie star famous for playing brave, rough heroes in Westerns and war films. Because he always played a strong, quiet cowboy with a slow walk, deep voice and big hat, his name now means 'tough, heroic'.