decoy

[ noun dee-koi, dih-koi; verb dih-koi ]

noun

1. a person who entices or lures another person or thing, as into danger, a trap, or the like.
2. anything used as a lure.

   Synonyms: allurement, inducement, bait, enticement

3. a trained bird or other animal used to entice game into a trap or within gunshot.
4. an artificial bird, as a painted wooden duck, used for the same purpose.
5. a pond into which wild fowl are lured for capture.
6. an object capable of reflecting radar waves, used as a spurious aircraft, missile, chaff, etc., for the deception of radar detectors.

verb (used with object)

1. to lure by or as if by a decoy:

   They decoyed the ducks to an area right in front of the blind.

verb (used without object)

1. to become decoyed:

   Ducks decoy more easily than most other waterfowl.

decoy

noun

1. a person or thing used to beguile or lead someone into danger; lure
2. military something designed to deceive an enemy or divert his attention
3. a bird or animal, or an image of one, used to lure game into a trap or within shooting range
4. an enclosed space or large trap, often with a wide funnelled entrance, into which game can be lured for capture
5. another word for deke

verb

1. to lure or be lured by or as if by means of a decoy
2. tr another word for deke

Derived Forms

• deˈcoyer, noun

Other Words From

• de·coyer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of decoy¹

1610–20; variant of coy (now dial.) < Dutch ( de ) kooi (the) cage, Middle Dutch cōie < Latin cavea cage

Word History and Origins

Origin of decoy¹

C17: probably from Dutch de kooi, literally: the cage, from Latin cavea cage

Example Sentences

The decoys don’t attach to cells but float in the fluid between them to catch the virus before it binds to the real ACE2 receptors.

From MIT Technology Review

Batlle’s team began working on decoy proteins in January 2020 after learning about the first US case, building on knowledge gleaned from China’s 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak.

From MIT Technology Review

Perkins angered some customers who complained that Orvis’s catalogues were suddenly filled with copper wastebaskets, silk underwear and items such as the Phona-Duck, a telephone that looked like a duck decoy.

From Washington Post

I kind of had to be a decoy and continue to move around without the ball.

From Washington Post

Irving, a more elusive player than Harden, should have been the decoy and release valve if Durant was covered.

From Washington Post

The former decoy did as bid as Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan entered.

From The Daily Beast

Lönnborg, who works as a lawyer in London, has on several occasions posed as Elin, acting as a decoy to throw off the paparazzi.

From The Daily Beast

The impudence of the authorities, to decoy an unsuspecting workingman across the State line, and then arrest him as my accomplice!

From Project Gutenberg

The boy's pulses leaped toward these things even while his lips curled in disdain at the shallow decoy.

From Project Gutenberg

You make use of your power to run a common decoy house, to do away with men for money.

From Project Gutenberg

The decoy was barely in place before he was on the floor while a volley of lead and a flight of arrows rained against the roof.

From Project Gutenberg

They saw nothing but the wretched decoy vanishing behind the nearest tents.

From Project Gutenberg