John Henry
noun
a person's signature.
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John Henry
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Henry, John
Henry, JohnA hero of American folktales and folk songs. The stories portray him as a black man, enormously strong, who worked on railroads or on steamboats and died from exhaustion after he outperformed a steam drill in a contest.
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“John Henry”
“John Henry”An American folksong (see folk music) about the “steel-driving man” John Henry. It contains these lines:
John Henry said to his captain,
“A man ain't nothin' but a man,
And before I'd let your steam drill beat me down,
I'd die with the hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord!
I'd die with the hammer in my hand.”
John Henry
Americannoun
John Henries
plural
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Informal. a person's signature.
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U.S. Folklore. a legendary Black man of exceptional strength and stamina.
Henry, John
1
Cultural
“John Henry”
2
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of John Henry
An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; from the proper name
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Her manic energy is offset by the two people to whom she is closest: her fragile 6-year-old cousin, John Henry, and Berenice, the family’s wise black housekeeper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Mr. Walther is editor of the Lamp magazine, a Catholic literary journal, and author of a forthcoming biography of John Henry Newman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
This monument resides directly across from a series of photographs by John Henry featuring Black mothers similarly holding their sons in urban environments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025
Kirsh can’t resist taunting his foe through milky spittle, reminding Morrow that John Henry died of exhaustion.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2025
“Tristan,” John Henry started, then stopped, and started again.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Heinz, the American company perhaps most associated with ketchup, didn’t get into the game until 1876, seven years after Henry John Heinz set up the company to sell horseradish using his mother’s recipe.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2018
Drue Heinz, 103, who used her riches from her third marriage — to Henry John Heinz II, the family behind the H.J.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2018
His mother and father both died before Hoover turned 9, requiring him to move to Salem, Ore., to live with his uncle, Henry John Minthorn.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2017
“It was a good trial, passionate, but in terms of consequences the imminent expiration date takes all the pathos out of the verdict,” said prosecutor Henry John Woodcock after the sentence was delivered on Wednesday.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 8, 2015
Henry John Temple was the descendant of an historic English family, and was born on the Temple estates at Broadlands in Hampshire, October 20, 1784.
From Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century by Joy, James Richard
They would quickly break into a traditional folk song — perhaps “John Henry” or “Pretoria.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
Wright paints a singular version of the folk standard “John Henry” and gives his guitar a proper workout on Muddy Waters’ “Standing Around Crying.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 30, 2016
“John Henry” touches upon several themes that C.C.R. went on to explore, foremost among them the nostalgia for some lost agrarian past.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 6, 2015
Marcus hears bluesman John Lee Hooker’s 1949 private recording of “John Henry” in Guitar Drag, along with Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock rewiring of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “the greatest and most unstable protest song there is.”
From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2014
But the Machine had its moments, as in a version of “John Henry” that wasn’t bad at all.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2010
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
