glue factory
- noun
- /ɡluː ˈfæktəri/
- Offensive
:
matadero (figurado, ofensivo)
- The once-reputable company was now viewed as a glue factory, with employees feeling they were just waiting for the end.
Now at least send them to the glue factory.
- Now at least send them to the glue factory.
Examples
-
He worked twelve hours a day in a glue factory and hauled ice in the summer to make extra money.
Fiction book (1995) -
After his business failed, he felt like he was heading to the glue factory, a place where dreams go to be discarded.
-
In the comedy, the old car is a metaphor for a glue factory, suggesting that it's time to let go of things that no longer serve us.
Synonyms
54
3.5
A place where old cars and metal are kept to sell for parts or recycling
7
4.0
A place where people throw away unwanted things, often illegally
5
2.8
A place where people keep old cars and machines to take parts and sell metal
3
4.2
A messy pile of old broken things people throw away
2
8.0
A place where old vehicles or machines are kept and left to rust
Antonyms
2
2.7
A place where old paper, glass, and plastic are cleaned and made ready to be used again
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'glue' (a sticky substance) and 'factory' (a place of production) do not directly yield the idiomatic sense of a place where unwanted or worn-out things are sent to be discarded or destroyed. Understanding this phrase requires cultural/historical knowledge (that animals/parts were processed into glue) and metaphorical inference beyond constituent meanings, so it is not predictable for a B1 learner who only knows the component words.
Etymology
The expression glue factory comes from old workshops that turned dead animals into glue. If someone was 'headed to the glue factory', it meant they were no longer useful and would be thrown away, so today the phrase means being discarded or retired.