dum|my

dum|my «DUHM ee», noun, plural -mies, adjective, verb, -mied, -my|ing.

–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.

4. anything made to resemble a real thing; imitation; counterfeit.

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]