puppet — English Dictionary

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.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   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

   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.

3. A poppet; a small image in the human form; a doll.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

4. The upright support for the bearing of the spindle in a lathe.

Verb

1. To control or manipulate like a puppet.

   Usage

   • also
   • Figurative
   • Transitive

Noun

1. a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer

   Synonyms

   marionette

   Broader terms

   figure

2. a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

   Synonyms

   creaturetool

   Broader terms

   slave

3. a doll with a hollow head of a person or animal and a cloth body; intended to fit over the hand and be manipulated with the fingers

   Broader terms

   dolldolly