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• Paul Bunyan
  Paul Bunyan

  noun

  a legendary giant lumberjack, an American folk hero.
• Bunyan, Paul
  Bunyan, Paul

  A legendary giant lumberjack of the north woods of the United States and Canada. He was accompanied by a blue ox named Babe. The stories about him resemble traditional tall tales. In one such story, the ten thousand lakes of Minnesota originated when Paul and Babe's footprints filled with water.

Paul Bunyan

American  

noun

1. a legendary giant lumberjack, an American folk hero.

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Bunyan, Paul Cultural  

1. A legendary giant lumberjack of the north woods of the United States and Canada. He was accompanied by a blue ox named Babe. The stories about him resemble traditional tall tales. In one such story, the ten thousand lakes of Minnesota originated when Paul and Babe's footprints filled with water.

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Example Sentences

Also: A statue of Paul Bunyan is going up in town — and in fact a 31-foot-tall Bunyan statue was unveiled in Bangor, Maine, in 1959.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 24, 2025

It’s a run no matter that Schwarber turns into some sort of Paul Bunyan mythical figure that can scare the leather off the ball with each colossal moon shot.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2022

His anti-arborism positions him in a great American tradition, as a mighty Paul Bunyan to Warnock’s Johnny Appleseed, a wily Once-ler to Warnock’s Lorax.

From Washington Post • Aug. 23, 2022

Whitehead himself would never be mistaken for John Henry, who is often portrayed by artists as a black Paul Bunyan, all rippling muscles and sweat.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2021

Above the coffeemaker an assortment of figurines marched along the shelf: Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, Mickey Mouse, Zeus, and Felix the Cat.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides