noun General Slang

Gulliver

/ˈɡʌlɪvə/ · noun · slang

Nadsat for the head, anglicised from the Russian 'golova'.

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Definitions

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In Nadsat, the gulliver is the head. Source word: Russian 'golova' (голова), literally 'head'; Burgess reshaped it into the familiar-looking name 'Gulliver'.

“Alex gets a nasty crack on the gulliver during a fight.”
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2

Used in idioms about thinking, aching, or being hit, exactly where English would use 'head'.

“His gulliver ached the morning after the moloko plus.”
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3

The pun on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver gives the head-word a literary wink typical of Burgess.

“Burgess turning 'golova' into 'gulliver' is one of Nadsat's neatest jokes.”
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Gulliver In A Sentence

He took a tolchock to the gulliver and went down hard.
My gulliver was full of music and not much else.
Keep your gulliver down when the millicents come past.

Origin & Usage

Coined by Burgess in A Clockwork Orange (1962) from the Russian 'golova', 'head', deliberately respelled to echo Swift's Gulliver. Burgess discussed this kind of layered punning in his essay 'Clockwork Marmalade' (1972).

Variants gulliver
Tags #nadsat#clockwork-orange#fictional#literary#body

People Also Ask

What does gulliver mean in Nadsat?

It means the head, anglicised by Burgess from the Russian 'golova'.

Is gulliver named after the Swift character?

The pun is intentional, but the root is Russian 'golova'; Burgess just borrowed the familiar spelling.

Where did gulliver come from?

Anthony Burgess constructed it for A Clockwork Orange in 1962 from the Russian word for head.

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