Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small figure of a person or animal, having a cloth body and hollow head, designed to be fitted over and manipulated by the hand.
  • noun A figure having jointed parts animated from above by strings or wires; a marionette.
  • noun A toy representing a human figure; a doll.
  • noun One whose behavior is determined by the will of others.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A doll.
  • noun A little figure of a person, moved by the fingers, or by cords or wires, in a mock drama; a marionette.
  • noun Hence One who is actuated by the will of another; a tool: used in contempt.
  • noun plural Toys; trinkets.
  • noun The head-stock or the tail-stock of a lathe. See lathe.
  • To dress as a doll; bedeck with finery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small image in the human form; a doll.
  • noun A similar figure moved by the hand or by a wire in a mock drama; a marionette; a wooden actor in a play.
  • noun One controlled in his action by the will of another; a tool; -- so used in contempt.
  • noun (Mach.) The upright support for the bearing of the spindle in a lathe.
  • noun Same as Puppetman.
  • noun a puppet show.
  • noun one who manages the motions of puppets.
  • noun a mock drama performed by puppets moved by wires.
  • noun a valve in the form of a circular disk, which covers a hole in its seat, and opens by moving bodily away from the seat while remaining parallel with it, -- used in steam engines, pumps, safety valves, etc. Its edge is often beveled, and fits in a conical recess in the seat when the valve is closed. See the valves shown in Illusts. of Plunger pump, and Safety valve, under Plunger, and Safety.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings, rods or in the form of a glove.
  • noun figuratively A person, country, etc, controlled by another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer
  • noun a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else
  • noun 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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English poppet, doll, possibly from Anglo-Norman poppe, doll; see puppy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French poupette, diminutive of poupée, from Vulgar Latin *puppa, from Latin pupa.

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Examples

  • Things that you really wouldn't think about, like for example, you never use the word 'puppet'.

    The Muppets: 'You never call them puppets!' 2012

  • All over the world, all over the Islamic world and the Arab world, it's seen as a blackmail against Iraq and tentative by the Americans to topple a government, the Iraqi government, and to throw it and to put what they call a puppet regime like what has been put in Kabul, what they consider being put in Kabul, the Karzai government.

    CNN Transcript Dec 8, 2002 2002

  • Afghan officials say they were deliberately bypassed in a concession to the Taliban, which has always refused to negotiate with what it labels the "puppet" Karzai government.

    News 2012

  • Afghan officials say they were deliberately bypassed in a concession to the Taliban, which has always refused to negotiate with what it labels the "puppet" Karzai government.

    News 2012

  • This was an unlucky speech on the present occasion, for it happened that every body, after having seen what he called my puppet-show, was precisely of this opinion.

    Tales and Novels — Volume 02 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • The Hopi Sinom never authorized the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, which they referred to as a puppet government of the United States.

    CounterPunch 2008

  • The Hopi Sinom never authorized the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, which they refer to as a puppet government of the United States.

    The NarcoSphere - 2008

  • The Hopi Sinom never authorized the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, which they referred to as a puppet government of the United States.

    CounterPunch 2008

  • So you mean those imflammatory cartoons showing a hook-nosed ogre dangling an Uncle Sam puppet from a string are true?

    Matthew Yglesias » Olmert Claims to Control US Foreign Policy 2009

  • Seriously, it's perfect: With a pine body impervious to fangs, and a growing nose providing an ever-present stake, the little puppet is ready-made to kill the creatures of the night.

    Pinocchio is hell on vampires (and crickets, of course) | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

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