Word.ws English Dictionary

Trigger's broom

Trigger's broom proper noun: an object that has had all of its components replaced; a ship of Theseus.

Proper noun

Trigger's broom

  1. (UK) An object that has had all of its components replaced; a ship of Theseus.
    • Much like Trigger's broom, there is little remaining of the original 1867 Barmouth Bridge in north-west Wales.2021, Neil Prior, “Barmouth Bridge: 'Trigger's broom' bridge to get £30m upgrade”, in BBC News
    • Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s stucture may have been built with difficulty but it has stood the test of time and still has 99% of its original ironwork. “It’s not like Trigger’s broom,” said [Trish] Johnson, alluding to the road sweeper’s brush – which had 17 new heads and 14 new handles – in the...2025 August 16, Steven Morris, “‘Quite a project’: refurbishing the chains of Clifton Suspension Bridge”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Origin of Trigger's broom

From the episode "Heroes and Villains" (1996) of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, where the character Trigger receives an award for saving the council money by using the same broom for twenty years, despite it receiving seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles.

Questions about Trigger's broom

What does Trigger's broom mean?
Trigger's broom means an object that has had all of its components replaced; a ship of Theseus.
What part of speech is Trigger's broom?
Trigger's broom is a proper noun.

Words near Trigger's broom in the dictionary

  1. trigger pricing
  2. trigger warning
  3. trigger warnings
  4. trigger word
  5. trigger words
  6. Trigger's broom
  7. trigger-fish
  8. trigger-happiness
  9. trigger-happy
  10. triggerable
  11. triggered

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Trigger's broom (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Trigger's broom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trigger%27s_broom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.