dummy

plural dummies · alternative rare dumbie · alternative rare dumby · alternative rare dummie

1. datedA silent person; a person who does not talk.

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   The man's name […] was engraved in the centre, and beneath this, written in ink with the same elaborate precision as the engraving, there was a brief message. I am a deaf-mute, but I read the lips and understand what is said to me. Please do not shout. […] Singer looked very carefully at his lips when he spoke—he had noticed that before. But a dummy!

   1940, Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

   Synonyms: dumby

2. A stupid person.

   Don't be such a dummy!

   Synonyms: dumby, dumdum

3. slangAfrican-American Vernacular; Baltimore; African-American Vernacular; BaltimoreA term of address.

   Hey dummy, what's good wit chu?

   Synonyms: dude, bro

4. A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.
5. Something constructed with the size and form of a human, to be used in place of a person.

   To understand the effects of the accident, we dropped a dummy from the rooftop.

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   "There's a remedy, it does try one, but never mind," said Gubjor; "I shall make a dummy baby, which I shall bury in the churchyard, and then the dead will believe they have got the child, take my word, they won't know but what it is the real baby!"

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 304

   Synonyms: mannequin, marionette

6. A person who is the mere tool of another; a man of straw.
7. A deliberately nonfunctional device or tool used in place of a functional one.

   The hammer and drill in the display are dummies.

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   The second method was to use two loadometers under the wheels of one axle, mounting the wheels of the other axle on what we called "equalizing blocks" or "dummies." By that method the two axles are brought into the same horizontal plane […]

   1950, National Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication, page 138

8. AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUKA pacifier; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby.First known use 20th c.

   The baby wants her dummy.

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   Then on the fifth day, at the first sleep of the day, remove the dummy and follow my settling guide for your baby′s age. You should throw all her dummies in the bin to ensure you are not tempted to use them again – even outside sleep times.

   2006, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: A Parents′ Guide Towards Happy, Sleeping Babies from Birth to Two Years, MacMillan, published 2009, page 200

   No Fairy baby has ever been seen to suck its thumb or to use a dummy.

   2008, Bern, Bern's Fairy Tales, page 15

   We′ve found that going cold turkey works best – you check that your baby isn't ill or teething, then throw all dummies away. When your baby cries for her dummy, you can look her in the eye and say, ‘It′s gone,’ and really mean it.

   2011, Simone Cave, Caroline Fertleman, Baby to Toddler Month by Month, page 85

   Synonyms: binky, bink, bo-bo, comforter, dodie, nookie, paci, piece

9. bridgeA player whose hand is shown and is to be played from by another player.
10. human sciencesA word serving only to make a construction grammatical.

    The pronoun "it" in "It's a mystery why this happened" is a dummy.

11. computingAn unused parameter or value.

    If flag1 is false, the other parameters are dummies.

12. ball gamesA feigned pass or kick or play in order to deceive an opponent.
13. UKhobbiesA bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.

    Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.

    2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Blackpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC

    Synonyms: juke, deke

14. attributiveA newborn animal that is indifferent to stimulus and does not voluntarily move.

    a dummy calf, lamb, or foal

15. board gamesA fairy chess piece that cannot move or capture, but can be captured and used to skip moving another piece.

    Everybody give the dummy a big round of applause.

    2018 October 12, aabicus, “My 7 Favorite Fairy Chess Pieces”, in The Daily SPUF

    1 more example

    In Monochromatic chess moves are only allowed between cells of the same colour. Thus the kings are reduced to ferses, the rooks to dabbabariders, and the knights to dummies. […] The fers and camel can reach all the cells of one colour. The others are more restricted; the dummy cannot move at all, and the commuter can only move back and forth between two cells.

    2010 August 21, G. P. Jelliss, “Simple Chess Variants”, in Mayhematics, pages 4, 9

present singular third person dummies · participle present dummying · participle past dummied · past dummied · alternative rare dumbie · alternative rare dumby · alternative rare dummie

1. To make a mock-up or prototype version of something, without all of the intended functionality.

   The carpenters dummied some props for the rehearsals.

2. hobbiesTo feint.

   The more glamorous qualities usually associated with him are skill and pace and he used those to race on to a ball across him and dummy a defender before having a right-foot shot saved.

   2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa”, in BBC

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   For the first, the 30-year-old allowed Walcott space on the right to send in a pass that was expertly dummied by Samir Nasri, allowing Van Persie to swivel and smash right-footed past Robert Green.

   2011 January 15, Kevin Darling, “West Ham 0 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC

   Synonyms: juke, deke

comparative more dummy · superlative most dummy · alternative rare dumbie · alternative rare dumby · alternative rare dummie

1. USslangExtremely.

   It's dummy hot outside.