puppet

Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.

Noun

  1. Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.
  2. A person, country, etc, controlled by another.
    • These men , from no worse motive that could be discovered than a thirst after knowledge beyond their sphere , committed burglary upon the barn in which the puppets had been consigned to repose - 1820 March, [Walter...
    • Every act of a Roman, from birth to death, from dawn to night, was controlled and supervised by some presiding deity. Man was thus virtually a symbolic puppet in the hands of the Roman pantheon. - 1961, Harry E. Wedeck,...
  3. A poppet; a small image in the human form; a doll.
  4. The upright support for the bearing of the spindle in a lathe.

Origin

From Middle English popet, probably from, though attested earlier than, Middle French poupette, diminutive of poupée (cf. also Medieval Latin *pupata), ultimately derived from Latin pupa (“doll, puppet; girl”). The nominal form first appears c. 1531, and the verbal form c. 1635. See also puppy.

Forms

puppets

Synonyms

monkey creature sport

Related

marionette muppet puppy

Derived

finger puppet fuckpuppet glove puppet hand puppet happy puppet syndrome meatpuppet meat puppet Muppet puppet army puppetdom puppeteer puppet government puppethood puppetish puppetism puppetize puppet leader puppetless puppetlike puppetman puppetmaster puppet regime puppet ruler puppetry

Verb

  1. To control or manipulate like a puppet.

Forms

puppets puppeting puppeted