pup|pet

pup|pet «PUHP iht», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. a) a figure made to look like a person or animal, and moved by wires, strings, rods, or the hands: »

Come…let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out (Thackeray).

b) Figurative. a person or group whose actions, while seemingly independent, are really manipulated or controlled by another: »

She had…acted but as a puppet in the hands of others (Maria Edgeworth). The overseas Chinese make useful Red puppets. Almost everywhere in Southeast Asia Chinese businessmen control…much of the banking (Newsweek).

2. a small doll: »

... the motherly airs of my little daughters when they are playing with their puppets (Joseph Addison).

–adj.

1. of a puppet or puppets: »

a puppet theater.

2. Figurative. manipulated or controlled by another: »

a puppet ruler, a puppet government, a puppet regime.

╂[earlier poppet < Old French poupette < a diminutive form of Vulgar Latin puppa, for Latin pūpa girl, doll]

–pup´pet|like´, adjective.