Definition of "dummy"

dummy

/ˈdʌmi/

noun
plural dummies
1. (dated) A silent person; a person who does not talk.
  Quotations
  The man's name […] was engraved in the centre, and beneath this, written in ink with the same elaborate precision as the engraving, there was a brief message.I am a deaf-mute, but I read the lips and understand what is said to me. Please do not shout. […] Singer looked very carefully at his lips when he spoke—he had noticed that before. But a dummy!
  1940, Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
2. A stupid person.
3. A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.
4. Something constructed with the size and form of a human, to be used in place of a person.
  Quotations
  "There's a remedy, it does try one, but never mind," said Gubjor; "I shall make a dummy baby, which I shall bury in the churchyard, and then the dead will believe they have got the child, take my word, they won't know but what it is the real baby!"
  1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 304
5. A person who is the mere tool of another; a man of straw.
6. A deliberately nonfunctional device or tool used in place of a functional one.
7. (Australia, UK, New Zealand) A "dummy teat"; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby; a pacifier.
  Quotations
  Then on the fifth day, at the first sleep of the day, remove the dummy and follow my settling guide for your baby′s age. You should throw all her dummies in the bin to ensure you are not tempted to use them again – even outside sleep times.
  2006, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: A Parents′ Guide Towards Happy, Sleeping Babies from Birth to Two Years, MacMillan, published 2009, page 200
  No Fairy baby has ever been seen to suck its thumb or to use a dummy.
  2008, Bern, Bern's Fairy Tales‎, page 15
  We′ve found that going cold turkey works best – you check that your baby isn't ill or teething, then throw all dummies away. When your baby cries for her dummy, you can look her in the eye and say, ‘It′s gone,’ and really mean it.
  2011, Simone Cave, Caroline Fertleman, Baby to Toddler Month by Month, page 85
8. (card games, chiefly bridge) A player whose hand is shown and is to be played from by another player.
9. (linguistics) A word serving only to make a construction grammatical.
10. (programming) An unused parameter or value.
11. (sports, chiefly rugby, soccer) A feigned pass or kick or play in order to deceive an opponent.
12. (sports, UK) A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.
  Quotations
  Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.
  2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Blackpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC‎
13. (attributive) A newborn animal that is indifferent to stimulus and does not voluntarily move.
verb
third-person singular simple present dummies, present participle dummying, simple past and past participle dummied
1. To make a mock-up or prototype version of something, without some or all off its intended functionality.
2. (sports) To feint.
  Quotations
  The more glamorous qualities usually associated with him are skill and pace and he used those to race on to a ball across him and dummy a defender before having a right-foot shot saved.
  2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa”, in BBC‎
  For the first, the 30-year-old allowed Walcott space on the right to send in a pass that was expertly dummied by Samir Nasri, allowing Van Persie to swivel and smash right-footed past Robert Green.
  2011 January 15, Kevin Darling, “West Ham 0 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC‎
adverb
comparative more dummy, superlative most dummy
1. (slang) Extremely.