John Henry
noun
a person's signature.
Jump To:
-
John Henry
-
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.
-
“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
-
Informal. a person's signature.
-
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:
Proponents like Liverpool owner John Henry wound up apologizing for mucking with the product.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
His cousin started taking him to Santa Anita, where he saw Spectacular Bid win the 1980 Strub Stakes in world record time for 1¼ miles and later followed such stars as John Henry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
John Henry, 71, from Northampton, who is on holiday with his family, was at a shopping centre when they got an air raid alert.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
Kirsh can’t resist taunting his foe through milky spittle, reminding Morrow that John Henry died of exhaustion.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2025
“That seems longer than the route John Henry described.”
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
The empire Henry John Heinz built marks its 150th anniversary this year, with events and special commemorations in Pittsburgh and around the world.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 12, 2019
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
They were reportedly introduced by Heinz’s then-husband, Henry John Heinz III. A year later, John died in a plane crash.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2016
His wife was Henrietta, daughter of Henry John Overing and he died at Newport, Rhode Island in 1813.
From The Loyalists of Massachusetts And the Other Side of the American Revolution by James H. Stark
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.
