squirrel cage
Americannoun
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a cage consisting of a cylindrical framework that is made to rotate by a small animal running inside the framework
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a repetitive purposeless task, way of life, etc
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Also called: squirrel-cage motor. electrical engineering the rotor of an induction motor with a cylindrical winding having copper bars around the periphery parallel to the axis
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an electric fan with many long narrow blades arranged in parallel so as to form a cylinder about an axis around which they spin
Etymology
Origin of squirrel cage
First recorded in 1815–25
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.
The animal is placed inside a big squirrel cage which revolves when the creature runs.
From Time Magazine Archive
The attainment of Nirvana allows us finally to step away from what one writer called "the squirrel cage of birth and rebirth" and enter into oneness with the cosmos.
From Time Magazine Archive
As soon as the elf came into the stone-paved yard, he ran right up to the squirrel cage.
From The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Howard, Velma Swanston
It is the girl whirled around in a squirrel cage of pointless weekly and Sunday engagements who is oppressed and mastered by her lack of freedom.
From A Girl's Student Days and After by Woolley, Mary Emma
She whirled her muff over and over upon her two hands like the wheel of a squirrel cage, regarding it intently with her pretty head on one side.
From The Philistines by Bates, Arlo
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.
