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dummy

Syllabification: (dum·my)
Pronunciation: /ˈdəmē/
Translate dummy | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of dummy

noun (plural dummies)

  • 1a model or replica of a human being:a waxwork dummy
  • a figure used for displaying or fitting clothes:a tailor’s dummy
  • a ventriloquist’s doll.
  • Bridge the declarer’s partner, whose cards are exposed on the table after the opening lead and played by the declarer.
  • Bridge the exposed hand of the declarer’s partner.
  • an imaginary fourth player in whist: [as modifier]:dummy whist
  • 2something designed to resemble and serve as a substitute for the real or usual thing; a counterfeit or sham:tests using stuffed owls and wooden dummies [as modifier]:a dummy torpedo dummy invoices and a dummy corporation, designed to underprice products
  • a prototype or mock-up, especially of a book or the layout of a page.
  • a blank round of ammunition.
  • [as modifier] Grammar denoting a word that has no semantic content but is used to maintain grammatical structure: a dummy subject, as in “it is” or “there are.”
  • 3 informal, chiefly North American a stupid person.

verb (dummies, dummying, dummied)

[with object]
  • create a prototype or mock-up of a book or page:officials dummied up a set of photos

Phrasal Verbs

dummy up

North American informal keep quiet; give no information.

Origin:

late 16th century: from dumb + -y1. The original sense was 'a person who cannot speak', then 'an imaginary fourth player in whist' (mid 18th century), whence 'a substitute for the real thing' and 'a model of a human being' (mid 19th century)

dummy in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of dummy in the British & World English dictionary
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