Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
MacGuffin .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (film) a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Actually thinking on it now I don't think my McGuffin is anywhere near the right one ... what's yours?
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A McGuffin is an item in the story that drives the plot or characters.
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » How to Make Your Novel into a Media Franchise, part 2 2007
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How can it be engrossing when the McGuffin is such a vile piece of work.
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Nor are the experts immune; Blaze and Schneier designed a cipher called McGuffin
Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008
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If you don't want details, the MacGuffin -- sometimes "McGuffin" -- is a device of some kind that gets the plot rolling in a story.
Archive 2009-02-01 Steve Perry 2009
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The entire political apparatus that surrounds him is a classic example of a Hitchcockian "McGuffin" - a great white shark that proves to be a red herring.
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The entire political apparatus that surrounds him is a classic example of a Hitchcockian "McGuffin" - a great white shark that proves to be a red herring.
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The McGuffin is a high-tech machine that the Russians need and that no one wants them to have.
Archive 2009-03-01 Bill Crider 2009
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Here, the McGuffin is the painting that is lent to Lenny.
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No McGuffin that is to say entirely character driven then it becomes literary.
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