dummy
noun/ˈdʌmi/
/ˈdʌmi/
(plural dummies)
- [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
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- [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.
- [countable] (North American English, informal) a stupid person
- Don't just stand there, you dummy.
- [countable] (in some sports) an occasion when you pretend to make a particular move and then do not do so
- [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 tongueTopics Life stagesc2
- [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.
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.).
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