puppet

Pluralpuppets

Formspuppets, puppeting, puppeted

1. 1
   show figurenouncountable

   A small figure of a person or animal that is made to move by strings or rods, or that fits over the hand like a glove.

   The puppeteer made the wooden puppet dance by tilting the bar that held its strings.

   Shadow puppets cut from leather were held on rods against a lit screen.

   Note

   The word comes through Middle English popet from Latin pupa, "doll, puppet; girl," making it a cousin of puppy. Strings, rods or a hand inside are the three ways of bringing one to life, and English often names the kind by its method: string puppet, rod puppet, glove or hand puppet. The old spelling lives on as poppet, in the plain "doll" sense.

2. 2
   tool of othersnounfigurativelycountable

   A person, country or other party whose actions are controlled by someone else.

   The occupying power installed a puppet government that took its orders from abroad.

   He refused to become a puppet in the hands of his wealthy backers.

   Similarpawn, tool, stooge, instrument, figurehead

   Note

   Politics leans on this meaning, often in front of another noun: a puppet government, a puppet regime, a puppet ruler installed by a stronger power. When the controller is named, the usual phrase is a puppet in the hands of someone, the strings left to the reader's imagination.

3. 3
   make moveverbfigurativelytransitive

   To control or manipulate someone or something as if working a puppet.

   Two performers hidden in black puppet the life-size horse across the stage.

   Foreign backers puppeted the rebel leaders from behind the scenes.

   Similarmanipulate, control, operate

   Note

   The verb came well after the noun, first recorded around 1635. It works both literally, of performers moving a figure, and figuratively, of backers steering people from behind the scenes; the figurative use leans on the controlled-person meaning. The person doing it is a puppeteer, a more familiar word than the verb itself.

4. 4
   machine supportnouncountable

   In a lathe, the upright support that carries the bearing for the spindle.

   The machinist checked that the puppet stood square to the bed of the lathe.

   A crack in the puppet let the spindle bearing shift out of line.

   Note

   The workshop borrowed the doll's name for an upright block standing on the lathe bed. Machinists also spell it poppet, and the block with its bearing may be called the puppet head or poppet head; whatever the spelling, its job is to keep the spindle running true.

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