rube

Related to rube: Rube Goldberg

hey, Rube

A call for help. It originated among members of traveling circuses in the late 19th century. The carnival performer yelled out, "Hey, Rube!" as the unruly crowd advanced on him.
See also: rube

Rube Goldberg

Describing an unnecessarily complicated machine used for a simple task. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist known for drawing such contraptions. I just love these silly Rube Goldberg machines—it takes imagination to design something so complicated!
See also: rube
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Rube Goldberg

An intricate contraption, usually involving a chain reaction, that is designed to produce quite simple results. It is named for Reuben (“Rube”) Goldberg (1883–1970), who according to Willard Espy, prospered for more than fifty years by developing cartoon equivalents of the mountain that labored to give birth to a mouse. The name later was used to describe any overly confusing or overcomplicated system. Rube Goldberg machines have shown up in numerous films. In Back to the Future (1985), Doc Brown has a Rube Goldberg machine to start cooking his breakfast and feed his dog when the clock changes to a certain time in the morning. The term also has been used quite figuratively, as in “The Senator’s plans for health care reform resemble a Rube Goldberg.”
See also: rube
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

hey, Rube!

A rallying cry for assistance when trouble breaks out. The phrase began in the days of touring carnivals and circuses. A carnival or circus performer or stagehand who found himself in an argument or altercation with patrons or other outsiders yelled, “hey, Rube,” the signal for his colleagues to run and help him out. An item in the Chicago Tribune in 1882 explained that “a canvasman watching a tent is just like a man watching his home. He'll fight in a minute if the outsider cuts the canvas [to sneak in], and if a crowd comes to quarrel—he will yell, ‘Hey, Rube!' That's the circus rallying cry, and look out for war when you hear it.” “Rube” might have been the name of an actual person summoned for assistance, although another possibility is that “rube” referred, as it still does, to country bumpkins; that is, to members of rural carnival and circus audiences who were likely to start trouble.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • hey, Rube
  • hey, Rube!
  • fob
  • fob (someone or something) off on (someone or something)
  • Heath Robinson
  • Rube Goldberg
  • that takes care of that
  • air rage
  • rage
  • out of hand
References in periodicals archive
Evaluation: Students are evaluated on their teamwork, knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as their Rube Goldberg device and prototype documentation.
Invention and Innovation: Community Improvement Design Challenge
"The Art of Rube Goldberg" will allow the National Museum of American Jewish History to offer different types of interactive learning one would not expect from a history museum, as it will be hosting the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for high school-aged students.
The Art of Rube Goldberg: "...The exhibition will chronicle all aspects of the artist's 72-year career, from his earliest published drawings and iconic inventions to his Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoons and beyond"
To get their Rube Goldberg machines working, teams had to make multiple revisions--an essential real-world skill.
New Tech model school unleashes innovation with Sprout by HP: Students work on creative team projects with a focus on project-based learning
Rube Goldberg machine makers link simple devices into elaborate compound machines.
One crazy device: who can build the most ridiculous step-by-step machine?
Like Rube Goldberg, science has the ability to identify truths and then subvert or transform our understanding of the world.
Letter from the editor: seeking chemistry
The late Rube Goldberg, a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for newspapers in both San Francisco and New York, drew roughly 50,000 cartoons during his career, many depicting zany machines that relied on chain reactions to accomplish some goal, according to Rube Goldberg, Inc., an educational not-for-profit organization formed to further science education through Goldberg's work.
Zeal Credit Union Helps Break World Record
But for every genuinely useful smart gadget, there are plenty that simply seem like a more elegant manifestation of those primitive Rube Goldberg devices.
The dumber side of smart
At the ceremony, Changchun Rube's key personnel were seen along with the company's important figures from Pakistan and China.
Changhong Ruba introduces all-new curved UHD TV in Pakistan
Nokia says in a blog post, "What better way to celebrate the coming together of our histories than with a Rube Goldberg machine, where every part has an equally important role to play in the larger story.
Microsoft and Nokia celebrate partnership with Rube Goldberg style video
IT DIDN'T TAKE A RUBE GOLDBERG LONG TO DO THIS FOR ME.
The "brick" that made a offissa out of "pupp"
Jackson businessman and philanthropist Ben Puckett will receive the second-annual Rube Award at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum's induction banquet Aug.
Puckett Machinery founder to receive Hall of Fame's Rube Award Aug. 2
It's no dry social-research thesis: With Picking Up, Nagle joins the likes of Jane Jacobs and Jacob Riis, writers with the chutzpah to dig deep into the Rube Goldberg machine we call the Big Apple and emerge with a lyrical, clear-eyed look at how it works.--Sydney Brownstone
Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks With the Sanitation Workers of New York City
George Edward "Rube" Waddell was an original oddball lefty, who could endear himself to fans, provide fodder for sportswriters, and alienate his teammates and manager.
The long way to Philadelphia: the strange route leading Rube Waddell to join the Philadelphia athletics
Rube Foster in his time; on the field and in the papers with black baseball's greatest visionary.
Rube Foster in his time; on the field and in the papers with black baseball's greatest visionary
He was a Rube in that, unlike most of the American baseball novelists, Zane Grey was a gifted ballplayer, amateur, college, and semi-pro.
Early baseball fiction: The Case for Zane Grey