dummy

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdʌmi/

Noun

dummy (plural dummies)

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

   cot en

2. An unintelligent person.

   cot en

   Don't be such a dummy!

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

   Synonyms: mannequin, marionette

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

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

   The hammer and drill in the display are dummies.

7. (AU, UK, NZ) A "dummy teat"; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby; a pacifier. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:pacifier

   The baby wants her dummy.

   • 2006, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: A Parents′ Guide Towards Happy, Sleeping Babies from Birth to Two Years, MacMillan 2009, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=dLgyUaMpYukC&pg=PA200&dq=%22dummy%22|%22dummies%22+baby+-intitle:%22dummies%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=d4JHT9D3KIvumAXR0YCsDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22dummy%22|%22dummies%22%20baby%20-intitle%3A%22dummies%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 200],

     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.

   • 2011, Simone Cave, Caroline Fertleman, Baby to Toddler Month by Month, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=zU4urJjhopMC&pg=PA85&dq=%22dummy%22|%22dummies%22+baby+-intitle:%22dummies%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3X5HT-rOMtGhiAfUtpCQDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22dummy%22|%22dummies%22%20baby%20-intitle%3A%22dummies%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 85],

     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.

8. (card games, chiefly, bridge) A player whose hand is shown and is to be played from by another player.
9. (UK) A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player in sport; a feint.

   Synonyms: juke

10. (linguistics) A word serving only to make a construction grammatical.

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

11. (programming) An unused parameter or value.

    If flag1 is false, the other parameters are dummies.

12. (sports, mostly, rugby, soccer) A feigned pass or kick or play in order to deceive an opponent.

Related terms

• (silent person) dumb
• (unintelligent person) dumb

Translations

• French: muet
• Italian: taciturno
• Russian: молчу́н
• Spanish: silencioso

Translations

• French: idiot, idiote, imbécile
• Italian: stupido, scemo
• Portuguese: idiota, imbecil
• Russian: дура́к
• Spanish: tonto

Translations

• French: mannequin
• Italian: manichino, sagoma, fantoccio
• Portuguese: manequim
• Russian: манеке́н
• Spanish: maniquí

Translations

• German: Attrappe
• Italian: simulacro
• Portuguese: simulacro
• Russian: маке́т

Translations

• French: mort
• Italian: morto
• Russian: болва́н
• Spanish: muerto

Translations

• Russian: финт

Verb

dummy (dummies, present participle dummying; past and past participle dummied)

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

   The carpenters dummied some props for the rehearsals.

2. (sports) To feint.

   Synonyms: juke

Adverb

dummy

1. (slang) Extremely.

   It's dummy hot outside.

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