Dictionary

rubber chicken en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

The name derives from the fact that the quality of the food often served at such events is secondary to the purpose of the events and seldom good.

Meanings

1. (countable, qualifier:literal, uncountable) A hollow, bright yellow toy or prop depicting a plucked chicken that emits a squeak when squeezed.
   • The hack comic produced a rubber chicken, to the groans and boos of the audience.
   • Men who have squeaked the rubber chicken on Broadway, or wooed humanity with a fringe of swaying, porpoise-hide shoe-laces, were swallowed up in the gray shadows of the storm. 1888 March 17, Bill Nye, “Bill Nye and the Blizzard”, in The World, page 5:
   • The rubber chicken is probably the best example of a prop used for schtick. 1988, Mark Stolzenberg, How to Be Really Funny, page 63:
2. (attributive, colloquial, uncountable, usually) The mediocre food served at social events, especially political fundraisers.
   • It was the hoedowns and the caucuses and the rubber chicken dinners and the big DFL blowouts at the Minneapolis Auditorium. 1997, Jim Klobuchar, Minstrel: My Adventure in Newspapering, page 88:
   • This is an annual shindig where politicians and members of the media sit down together, have a few beers and eat some rubber chicken, and political leaders of the day make a few silly speeches at their own expense. 2009, Rick Mercer, Rick Mercer Report: The Paperback Book, page 291:
   • She had felt the same way about attending political gatherings—the rubber-chicken luncheons and living room campaign coffee hours— back when Brandon had been a candidate for public office. 2009, J. A. Jance, Kiss of the Bees, page 33:
   • I found both the rubber chicken and the political offering equally unappetising. 2021, Elizabeth Farrelly, Killing Sydney: The Fight for a City's Soul:
   • The bill of fare consisted of an india-rubber chicken and boiled eggs. 1883 November 9, “Odds and Ends”, in Gloucester Citizen, page 4:
   • What the hell have you devoted all these years to politics for if all you want to do is to work the rubber chicken circuit and hang out with elderly activists!' 2020, John Bercow, Unspeakable: The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography:
3. (countable, uncountable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rubber, chicken.

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