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Definition of dummy noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

dummy

noun
 
/ˈdʌmi/
 
/ˈdʌmi/
(plural dummies)
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  1. [countable] a model of a person, used especially when making clothes or for showing them in a shop window
    • a tailor’s dummy
    • a ventriloquist’s dummy
    see also crash-test dummy, mannequinTopics Clothes and Fashionc2, Shoppingc2
  2. [countable] a thing that seems to be real but is only a copy of the real thing
    • The bottles of whisky on display are all dummies.
  3. [countable] (North American English, informal) a stupid person
    • Don't just stand there, you dummy.
  4. [countable] (in some sports) an occasion when you pretend to make a particular move and then do not do so
  5. [countable] (British English)
    (North American English pacifier, Binky™)
    a rubber or plastic object with a special shape that a baby sucks on with its lips and tongue
    Wordfinder
    Topics Life stagesc2
  6. [uncountable] (in card games, especially bridge) the cards that are placed facing upwards on the table and which can be seen by all the players
    • She played a jack from dummy.
    7. Word Originlate 16th cent.: from dumb + -y. The original sense was ‘a person who cannot speak’, then ‘an imaginary fourth player in whist’ (mid 18th cent.), whence ‘a substitute for the real thing’ and ‘a model of a human being’ (mid 19th cent.).
See dummy in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee dummy in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
Check pronunciation: dummy

Nearby words

trait
noun
 
 
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