like John Henry against the machine
- idiom
- US
:
como John Henry contra la máquina
- She fought through her illness like John Henry against the machine, refusing to give up.
Examples
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He finished the marathon like John Henry against the machine, pushing himself past every limit.
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He worked like John Henry against the machine to finish the project on time.
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The small team competed like John Henry against the machine in the national finals.
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She fought like John Henry against the machine to save her business.
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She fought through her illness like John Henry against the machine, refusing to give up.
-
He finished the marathon like John Henry against the machine, pushing himself past every limit.
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He worked like John Henry against the machine to finish the project on time.
Synonyms
16
3.9
To succeed despite very bad chances
6
8.0
In a way that shows great skill, confidence, and keeps trying when things are hard
Antonyms
How Determined
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + John + Henry + against + the + machine
This expression relies on the cultural reference to the folk hero John Henry (a man who famously competed against a steam-powered machine), so its meaning of a heroic, often doomed struggle against overwhelming technological power is not recoverable from the literal meanings of the constituent words. A B1 learner who only knows the words 'like', 'against', 'machine', etc., would not predict the specific historical/metaphorical sense without prior exposure to the story, making it non-compositional.
Etymology
Like John Henry against the machine comes from one popular story about the worker John Henry, who raced a steam machine while hammering steel rails. He beat the machine but died from the great effort, so the phrase means to try with great effort and determination against something much stronger.