MacGuffin

American  

[muh-guhf-in] / məˈgʌf ɪn /

Or McGuffin

noun

1. a plot device in a work of fiction, often a physical object, that drives the plot forward without factoring into the story’s resolution.

   The statue in The Maltese Falcon is the most well-known example of a MacGuffin in cinema.

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Etymology

Origin of MacGuffin

First recorded in 1935–40; probably from the surname MacGuffin and popularized by Alfred Hitchcock

Example Sentences

Mr. Foster dismisses their preoccupations with bionic implants or humanoid robots as MacGuffins—Alfred Hitchcock’s term for a device that momentarily advances a movie plot but ultimately fails to develop into anything.

From The Wall Street Journal

Like most eight-hour dramas, it’s too long — “Slow Horses,” the best of this breed, sticks to six — and over the course of the show, things grow muddied with MacGuffins and subplots.

From Los Angeles Times

“Night Country” serves a wide array of MacGuffins to turn over, cutting all kinds of Season 1 Easter Eggs into the Christmas hash.

From Salon

Though one might think it not hard to find — just sail until you hit it — a map to the place is the season’s major MacGuffin.

From Los Angeles Times

This sequence is ostensibly there to introduce the film’s MacGuffin, Archimedes Antikythera, a real celestial calculation machine with extraordinary predictive capabilities that in the film is bestowed with some otherworldly powers.

From Washington Times