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  • John Henry
    John Henry
    noun
    a person's signature.
  • Henry, John
    Henry, John
    A hero of American folktales and folk songs. The stories portray him as a black man, enormously strong, who worked on railroads or on steamboats and died from exhaustion after he outperformed a steam drill in a contest.
  • “John Henry”
    “John Henry”
    An American folksong (see folk music) about the “steel-driving man” John Henry. It contains these lines:

    John Henry said to his captain,

    “A man ain't nothin' but a man,

    And before I'd let your steam drill beat me down,

    I'd die with the hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord!

    I'd die with the hammer in my hand.”

Synonyms

John Henry

American  

noun

plural

John Henries

  1. Informal. a person's signature.

  2. U.S. Folklore. a legendary Black man of exceptional strength and stamina.

Henry, John 1 Cultural  

  1. A hero of American folktales and folk songs. The stories portray him as a black man, enormously strong, who worked on railroads or on steamboats and died from exhaustion after he outperformed a steam drill in a contest.

“John Henry” 2 Cultural  

  1. An American folksong (see folk music) about the “steel-driving man” John Henry. It contains these lines:

    John Henry said to his captain,

    “A man ain't nothin' but a man,

    And before I'd let your steam drill beat me down,

    I'd die with the hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord!

    I'd die with the hammer in my hand.”

Etymology

Origin of John Henry

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; from the proper name

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His cousin started taking him to Santa Anita, where he saw Spectacular Bid win the 1980 Strub Stakes in world record time for 1¼ miles and later followed such stars as John Henry.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026

National Cash Register founder John Henry Patterson elevated the role of sales and the position of salesperson, recognizing that marketing matters just as much as the product.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 23, 2025

This monument resides directly across from a series of photographs by John Henry featuring Black mothers similarly holding their sons in urban environments.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2025

Kirsh can’t resist taunting his foe through milky spittle, reminding Morrow that John Henry died of exhaustion.

From Salon • Sep. 24, 2025

John Henry leaned on his hammer with his good arm.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.