- dum|my
-
–n.1. a figure of a person, used to display clothing in store windows, to shoot at in rifle practice, to tackle in football, or in other ways: »
a tailor's dummy, a ventriloquist's dummy.
2. an empty or imitation package or article used for display or advertisement: »All the articles in the window are dummies.
3. Printing. a) a sample volume, bound or unbound, and usually either blank or only partly printed, to show size and general appearance (in Great Britain called a size copy). b) a format for parts or the whole of a magazine, book, or other publication, made up of printer's proofs pasted down upon empty pages to show the general arrangement of the material; layout.5. Informal. a stupid person; blockhead; dolt: »Werner and I went to the same high school, like all the boys in the neighborhood except the dummies who had to go to trade school (Hortense Calisher).
6. a person who has nothing to say or who takes no active part i affairs: »That man is just a dummy, though he's a director on the board.
7. a person who seems to be acting for himself, but is really acting for another.8. Slang. a dumb person; mute.9. in card games: a) a player whose cards are laid face up on the table and played by his partner. b) the hand played in this way. c) a game in which there is such a hand. d) an imaginary player represented by an exposed hand which is played by and serves as partner to one of the players.10. a former type of steam locomotive with a silent exhaust.–adj.1. made to resemble the real thing; counterfeit; imitation: »dummy ammunition. The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.
2. acting for another while supposedly acting for oneself. SYNONYM(S): vicarious.3. (of card games) played with an exposed hand, or with three players instead of the usual four: »dummy whist.
–v.t.U.S. to make a dummy of: »to dummy a newspaper, book, or page.
–v.i.(in Australia) to occupy land for a person who will later assume ownership.╂[< dumb + -y1]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
