golliwog

Noun

golliwog (plural golliwogs)

1. A rag doll or mascot in the form of a caricature of a black minstrel.
   • Lyons was ideal material for the ‘Honest Joe’ image. He had a round chubby face under a mop of curly hair that made him resemble a cross between a koala bear and a golliwog.1983, Norman E. Lee, John Curtin, Saviour of Australia, page 47
   • A golliwog doll, ‘Rickety Kate’, was fixed to the studio wall.2010, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio, page 286
2. (dated, offensive) A black person.
   • Deemed equally ‘harmless’ by its perpetrators is that close relation to the cannibal; the golliwog.[…]Dixon′s brilliant essay ‘All things white and beautiful’ (1976) argues that golliwogs are associated with fear and darkness, quoting an Enid Blyton story of Noddy being trapped and robbed of his...2002, Gillian Klein, Reading Into Racism: Bias in Children′s Literature and Learning Materials, page 41
3. (Australia) A hairy caterpillar.
4. A receiver of stolen goods.
5. (slang) Greyhound racing: the jolly dogs.
   • But even wooden limbs get tired/ And want a change of play/ So "Golliwogg"/ A "jolly dog"/ Suggests they run away.1895, Bertha Upton, The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls — and a ‘Golliwogg’