Dictionary

magic pudding en · NOUN

Etymology

A reference to the title character in Norman Lindsay's 1918 children′s book The Magic Pudding.

Meanings

1. (figuratively) A limitless or endlessly replenished resource.
   • Is this a magic pudding? A CSIRO policy economist who has worked with the modelling, Dr Steve Hatfield Dodds, said: “It's not so much a magic pudding as long-term, carefully planned structural adjustment.” 2007, Peter Hartcher, Bipolar Nation: How to Win the 2007 Election: Quarterly Essay, number 25, page 17:
   • Unfortunately, in a world that prefers magic puddings, technological bullets and simple solutions (preferably implemented painlessly by someone else) achieving sustainability is extremely complex. 2009, Richard Everist, The Complete Guide to the Great Ocean Road, page 57:
   • 2006, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary debates (Hansard), House of Representatives, Volume 286, page 8, Medibank Private is a magic pudding which would make Norman Lindsay proud.
   • Government was not a burden that you had to pay for; it was a magic pudding; you could cut slice after slice and there was always more. 2009, John Hirst, Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, page 309:

Forms

Synonyms

widow's cruse