noun
gulliver
GUH-lih-vuh
noun
1
Slang for one's head, popularized by the novel and film "A Clockwork Orange."
"In the Nadsat slang of "A Clockwork Orange," characters talk about getting hit on the gulliver."
2
The main character of Jonathan Swift's novel "Gulliver's Travels."
"Gulliver washes ashore in the land of tiny people called Lilliput."
How to Use Gulliver
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither the fictional traveler Gulliver, or, in slang, a person's head.
Word Forms
gullivers plural, Gullivers plural
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “gulliver”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
In the Nadsat slang of "A Clockwork Orange," characters talk about getting hit on the _____.
Etymology
The slang sense comes from Russian golová ("head"), popularized through the invented Nadsat slang in Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel "A Clockwork Orange," with its spelling influenced by the name Gulliver.