puppet
pronunciation
How to pronounce puppet in British English:
UK [ˈpʌpɪt]
How to pronounce puppet in American English:
US [ˈpʌpɪt]
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- Noun:
- a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer
- a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else
- a doll with a hollow head of a person or animal and a cloth body; intended to fit over the hand and be manipulated with the fingers
Word Origin
- puppet
- puppet: [16] Puppet, like its variant poppet [14], originally meant ‘doll’. It comes from Old French poupette, a diminutive form of *poupe ‘doll’. This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *puppa, a descendant of Latin pūpa ‘girl, doll’ (source of English pupa and pupil). The application to a ‘moving doll controlled by strings’ developed in the 16th century; in the case of poppet it has since died out, but it has taken over puppet completely.=> pupil
- puppet (n.)
- "doll moved by strings or wires" (later applied to puppets in glove form), 1530s, later form of Middle English popet "doll" (c. 1300; see poppet), from Old French popette "little doll, puppet," diminutive of popee "doll, puppet" (13c., Modern French poupée), from Vulgar Latin *puppa, from Latin pupa "girl; doll" (see pupil (n.1)). Metaphoric extension to "one whose actions are manipulated by another" first recorded 1540s (as poppet). Puppet show attested from 1650s, earlier puppet-play (1550s). Puppet government is attested from 1884 (in reference to Egypt).
Example
- 1. Shuja was swiftly seen as a puppet of the invading army .
- 2. He realises , you sense , that he 's the sock puppet of a maniac .
- 3. Should it put its somali clan allies in charge of a puppet administration of kismayo , an ugly local backlash could ensue .
- 4. The present chief executive , donald tsang , was installed by china in 2005 and so bears the burden of being a puppet .
- 5. He would also replace mr kan as prime minister-or , if he preferred to stay in the shadows , install a puppet leader in his place .