nodding donkey
Britishnoun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of nodding donkey
C20: so called from its shape and movement
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.
Dongying, a city of 2.1 million known for acrid-smelling air and a cluttered landscape of “nodding donkey” oil wells, is home to nearly 30 refineries and dozens of small chemical plants.
From Reuters
Dongying, a city of 2.1 million known for acrid-smelling air and a cluttered landscape of “nodding donkey” oil wells, is home to nearly 30 refineries and dozens of small chemical plants.
From Reuters
Yet unlike many of the large fracking companies which are large organizations with the associated bureaucracy and overhead, strippers are small firms that often have no choice, but to keep their nodding donkey pumps running.
From Time
Thousands of "nodding donkey" oil pumps dot the flat, blistering hot landscape.
From BBC
In Uptown today, the Nodding Donkey bar thumps where a black barbershop once stood.
From Washington Times
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.
