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cat's-paw
[ kats-paw ]
noun
- a person used to serve the purposes of another; tool.
- Nautical.
- a hitch made in the bight of a rope so that two eyes are formed to hold the hook of one block of a tackle.
- a light breeze that ruffles the surface of the water over a comparatively small area.
- the small area ruffled by such a breeze.
cat's-paw
noun
- a person used by another as a tool; dupe
- nautical a hitch in the form of two loops, or eyes, in the bight of a line, used for attaching it to a hook
- a pattern of ripples on the surface of water caused by a light wind
Word History and Origins
Origin of cat's-paw1
Word History and Origins
Origin of cat's-paw1
Idioms and Phrases
A dupe or tool for another, a sucker, as in You always try to make a cat's paw of me, but I refuse to do any more of your work . This term alludes to a very old tale about a monkey that persuades a cat to pull chestnuts out of the fire so as to avoid burning its own paws. The story dates from the 16th century and versions of it (some with a dog) exist in many languages.Example Sentences
I saw them pick up their cat's-paw invitations and walk over to the band where I was standing beside my red wagon.
How can it shed its image as a cat's-paw of the Chinese government and break into the largest telecommunications market in the world?
His cat's-paw presented itself in the shape of Millais.
"Was it an explosive?" demanded Slyne, almost boiling over at the idea that he had unwittingly been risking his life as a cat's-paw.
She felt the wind in a "cat's-paw" now and then, and so the helm lost its control of her, and she went banging against first one berg and then another.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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