Adjacent Words

dummy definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having the appearance of being real but lacking capacity to function; "a dummy corporation" n
1: a person who does not talk [syn: dummy, silent person]
2: an ignorant or foolish person [syn: dumbbell, dummy, dope, boob, booby, pinhead]
3: a figure representing the human form
4: a cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet [syn: blank, dummy, blank shell] v
1: make a dummy of; "dummy up the books that are to be published" [syn: dummy, dummy up]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural dummies) Etymology: ¹dumb + ⁴-y Date: 1598 1. a. a person who is incapable of speaking b. a person who is habitually silent c. a stupid person 2. a. the exposed hand in bridge played by the declarer in addition to his own hand b. a bridge player whose hand is a dummy 3. an imitation, copy, or likeness of something used as a substitute: as a. mannequin b. a stuffed figure or cylindrical bag used by football players for tackling and blocking practice c. a large puppet usually having movable features (as mouth and arms) manipulated by a ventriloquist d. chiefly British pacifier 2 4. one seeming to act independently but in reality controlled by another 5. a. a mock-up of a proposed publication (as a book or magazine) b. a set of pages (as for a newspaper or magazine) with the position of text and artwork indicated for the printer II. adjective Date: 1846 1. a. having the appearance of being real ; artificial <dummy foods in the display case> b. existing in name only ; fictitious <dummy corporations> 2. apparently acting for oneself while really acting for or at the direction of another <a dummy director> III. transitive verb (dummied; dummying) Date: circa 1928 to make a dummy of (as a publication) — often used with up <dummied up the front page>

U.S. Military Dictionary

See decoy.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n., adj., & v. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a model of a human being, esp.: a a ventriloquist's doll. b a figure used to model clothes in a shop window etc. c a target used for firearms practice. 2 (often attrib.) a a counterfeit object used to replace or resemble a real or normal one. b a prototype, esp. in publishing. 3 colloq. a stupid person. 4 a person taking no significant part; a figurehead. 5 Brit. a rubber or plastic teat for a baby to suck on. 6 an imaginary fourth player at whist, whose hand is turned up and played by a partner. 7 Bridge a the partner of the declarer, whose cards are exposed after the first lead. b this player's hand. 8 Mil. a blank round of ammunition. 9 colloq. a dumb person. --adj. sham; counterfeit. --v.intr. (-ies, -ied) Football make a pretended pass or swerve etc. Phrases and idioms: dummy run 1 a practice attack, etc.; a trial run. 2 a rehearsal. dummy up US sl. keep quiet; give no information. sell the (or a) dummy Rugby Football colloq. deceive (an opponent) by pretending to pass the ball. Etymology: DUMB + -Y(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dummy Dum"my, a. [See Dumb.] 1. Silent; mute; noiseless; as a dummy engine. 2. Fictitious or sham; feigned; as, a dummy watch. Dummy car. See under Car.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dummy Dum"my, n.; pl. Dummies. 1. One who is dumb. --H. Smith. 2. A sham package in a shop, or one which does not contain what its exterior indicates. 3. An imitation or copy of something, to be used as a substitute; a model; a lay figure; as, a figure on which clothing is exhibited in shop windows; a blank paper copy used to show the size of the future book, etc. 4. (Drama) One who plays a merely nominal part in any action; a sham character. 5. A thick-witted person; a dolt. [Colloq.] 6. (Railroad) A locomotive with condensing engines, and, hence, without the noise of escaping steam; also, a dummy car. 7. (Card Playing) The fourth or exposed hand when three persons play at a four-handed game of cards. 8. A floating barge connected with a pier. --Knight. To play dummy, to play the exposed or dummy hand in cards. The partner of the dummy plays it.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dummies) 1. A dummy is a model of a person, often used to display clothes. ...the bottom half of a shop-window dummy. = mannequin N-COUNT 2. You can use dummy to refer to things that are not real, but have been made to look or behave as if they are real. Dummy patrol cars will be set up beside motorways to frighten speeding motorists... = fake N-COUNT: oft N n 3. A baby's dummy is a rubber or plastic object that you give the baby to suck so that he or she feels comforted. (BRIT; in AM, usually use pacifier) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Mute, dumb person. 2. (Colloq.) Dumb-waiter. 3. Fourth hand (when only three persons play at whist).

Moby Thesaurus

Boeotian, Charlie McCarthy, Intertype, Linotype, Monotype, a nobody, a nothing, ace, adherent, advocate, affected, agent, alter ego, alternate, alternative, amicus curiae, analogy, ancilla, apocryphal, appliance, artificial, ass, assumed, attorney, backup, backup man, bastard, best bower, block, blockhead, bogus, bower, brummagem, burlesque, bust, cards, carving, champion, change, changeling, cheat, cipher, clay model, clinquant, clod, clubs, cold-type typesetting, colorable, colored, common man, comparison, composing, composing stick, composition, computerized typesetting, contrivance, copy, counterfeit, counterfeited, creature, deaf-mute, deck, deputy, deuce, device, diamonds, dimwit, disciple, distorted, doll, dolly, dolt, donkey, dope, double, dressed up, dud, dullard, dullhead, dumb cluck, dumbbell, dummkopf, dunce, dupe, duplication, embellished, embroidered, equal, equivalent, ersatz, exchange, executive officer, exponent, face cards, facsimile, factitious, fake, faked, fakement, false, falsified, fantoccini, feigned, fictitious, fictive, figure, figurehead, figurine, fill-in, flunky, flush, follower, fool, forgery, frame-up, fraud, front, front man, full house, furniture, galley chase, garbled, ghost, ghostwriter, gillie, gingerbread man, go-between, goon, gowk, hand, handmaid, handmaiden, hanger-on, hearts, henchman, hoax, hollow man, hot-metal typesetting, idiot, ignoramus, illegitimate, imitation, implement, imposition, impostor, insignificancy, instrument, interagent, intermediary, intermediate, intermedium, jack, jackal, jackstraw, jobbernowl, joker, junk, junky, justification, king, knave, knockoff, lackey, lackwit, lamebrain, lay figure, layout, left bower, lever, lieutenant, lightweight, likeness, line of type, little fellow, little guy, locum, locum tenens, looby, loon, make-believe, makeshift, man, man of straw, man-made, manikin, mannequin, mannikin, marionette, mechanism, mediator, mediocrity, medium, metaphor, metonymy, midwife, minion, mock, mock-up, model, monument, moron, mute, myrmidon, nebbish, next best thing, niais, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nitwit, nobody, nobody one knows, noddy, nominal head, nonentity, nothing, nullity, numskull, obscurity, organ, pacifier, pack, pair, paranymph, paraphrase, parody, paste, pawn, personnel, perverted, phony, photocomposition, photosetting, phototypesetter, phototypesetting machine, picture cards, pilot model, pinch, pinch hitter, pinchbeck, pip-squeak, playing cards, plaything, pleader, portrait bust, pretended, procurator, provisional, proxy, pseudo, punk, puppet, pushover, put, put-on, put-up job, quasi, queen, queer, quoin, relief, replacement, replica, representation, representative, reprint, reproduction, reserve, reserves, ringer, rip-off, round, royal flush, rubber, ruff, runt, sample, satellite, scarecrow, scrub, sculpture, second in command, second string, secondary, self-styled, servant, setting, sham, shoddy, shrimp, sign, simpleton, simulacrum, simulated, simulation, singleton, slave, slug, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, snowman, so-called, soi-disant, spades, spare, spares, spurious, squirt, squit, stand-in, statuary, statue, statuette, stooge, stopgap, straight, stupid, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, supposititious, surrogate, swindle, sycophant, symbol, synecdoche, synthetic, tentative, thickwit, thing of naught, third string, thug, tin, tinsel, titivated, token, tool, toy, travesty, trey, trick, trifle, trump, twisted, typesetting, typesetting machine, unauthentic, understudy, ungenuine, unnatural, unreal, utility, utility man, utility player, vehicle, version, vicar, vicar general, vicarious, vice, vice-president, vice-regent, vicegerent, votary, warped, wax figure, waxwork, whiffet, whippersnapper, whited sepulcher, witling, wood carving, wood model, yes-man, zero