Heath Robinson

English Etymology In reference to the drawings by W. Heath Robinson William Heath Robinson. Noun en chiefly UK attributive Anything ingenious (and often complex) but absurdly impractical or even useless. en 1998 Samuel N. C. Lieu Samuel Lieu Manichaeism in Central Asia and China 9004104054 16 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BfAeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 Among the many Heath Robinson contraptions he devised were the Light Vessels (the Sun and the Moon) which would ferry the rescued Light-Particles back to their land of origin along the Milky Way. en 2014 Ivan M. Donaldson The Truant from Medicine: A Memoir 9781775537366 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bfacDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT452 And that is how we came to mow our lake weed, although we eventually found it easier to tie two ropes, one to each side of the inner tube, and to pull the Heath Robinson contraption back and forwards across the water with Chris and I standing on opposite banks, each holding one of the lines. Related terms en Heath Robinsonesque en Heath Robinsonian See also en Rube Goldberg machine en eponyms