dupe

¹

[ doop, dyoop ]

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived or fooled; gull.
2. a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person:

   a dupe of the opponents.

verb (used with object)

, duped, dup·ing.

1. to make a dupe of; deceive; delude; trick.

dupe

²

[ doop, dyoop ]

noun

1. duplicate.
2. Movies.
   1. a duplicate picture negative used for making additional release prints or for making special effects to be inserted in the release negative.
   2. the procedure for producing such a duplicate.
3. Television. a duplicate videotape obtained by electronic printing of the original videotape.

verb (used with or without object)

, duped, dup·ing.

1. to duplicate.

adjective

1. duplicate.

dupe

/ djuːp /

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived
2. a person who unwittingly serves as the tool of another person or power

verb

1. tr to deceive, esp by trickery; make a dupe or tool of; cheat; fool

Derived Forms

• ˈdupable, adjective
• ˌdupaˈbility, noun
• ˈdupery, noun
• ˈduper, noun

Other Words From

• dup·a·ble adjective
• dup·a·bil·i·ty [doo-p, uh, -, bil, -i-tee, dyoo-], noun
• dup·er noun
• un·dup·a·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dupe¹

First recorded in 1675–85; from French; Middle French duppe for unattested tête d'uppe “head of hoopoe,” i.e., “fool” (compare tête de fou ), from unattested Vulgar Latin uppa, Latin upupa “hoopoe,” a bird thought to be especially stupid; hoopoe

Origin of dupe²

First recorded in 1895–90; by shortening

Word History and Origins

Origin of dupe¹

C17: from French, from Old French duppe, contraction of de huppe of (a) hoopoe (from Latin upupa ); from the bird's reputation for extreme stupidity

Example Sentences

Then on 17th September Israel broke out of it by triggering the miniature bombs built into the network of booby-trapped pagers its intelligence services had duped Hezbollah into buying.

From BBC

Sue, from Staffordshire, who asked not to use her full name, was duped by a man posing as a widower shortly after she lost her own husband of 40 years.

From BBC

She was then duped into believing they had deposited money into her account, and she needed to pay it back in cash and gift cards from Best Buy and Target.

From Los Angeles Times

Somehow, boxing has a knack of duping the public.

From BBC

Among the many lies McDonald told the women he duped was that his mother was dying of cancer.

From BBC

Related Words

• baffle
• bamboozle
• betray
• cheat
• deceive
• defraud
• delude
• hoodwink
• mislead
• swindle
• victimize