Popeye

1. A tattooed, corncob pipe-smoking comic strip character created in the early twentieth century. Popeye the Sailorman is constantly called upon to save his girlfriend, Olive Oyl, from the schemes of the villainous Bluto. To gain the necessary strength, Popeye consumes a can of spinach.

Though said to have been inspired by the marketing division of a spinach manufacturer, Popeye has proved enduringly popular, spawning adaptations for the radio, animated cartoons, and a motion picture.

Example Sentences

The signature pipe is very much a smoking presence, making Harris, on record as a huge fan of the books, look a little like Popeye.

From Los Angeles Times

The closest she’d come, she said, was Popeye’s — not very close at all.

From Los Angeles Times

Many newspapers have long relied on such collaborations to fill out their pages, whether the syndication is war reports from the Associated Press or Popeye comic strips.

From Slate

The U.S. also engaged in weather modification through Project Popeye, a secret program from 1967 to 1972 that seeded clouds with silver iodide to prolong the monsoon season in an attempt to cut the flow of fighters and supplies coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam.

From Salon

Each episode runs 11 minutes, the classic length of the old Popeye and Bugs Bunny and Road Runner theatrical shorts — brief enough to not wear out an idea, long enough to express one, but timed to keep the gags coming fast.

From Los Angeles Times