decoy
a person who entices or lures another person or thing, as into danger, a trap, or the like.
anything used as a lure.
a trained bird or other animal used to entice game into a trap or within gunshot.
an artificial bird, as a painted wooden duck, used for the same purpose.
a pond into which wild fowl are lured for capture.
an object capable of reflecting radar waves, used as a spurious aircraft, missile, chaff, etc., for the deception of radar detectors.
to lure by or as if by a decoy: They decoyed the ducks to an area right in front of the blind.
to become decoyed: Ducks decoy more easily than most other waterfowl.
Origin of decoy
1Other words for decoy
Other words from decoy
- de·coy·er, noun
Words Nearby decoy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use decoy in a sentence
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.
Can you spot the fake receptor? The coronavirus can’t either. | Tatyana Woodall | August 27, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewBatlle’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.
Can you spot the fake receptor? The coronavirus can’t either. | Tatyana Woodall | August 27, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewPerkins 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.
Leigh H. Perkins, who built Orvis into an upscale sporting brand, dies at 93 | Harrison Smith | May 13, 2021 | Washington PostI kind of had to be a decoy and continue to move around without the ball.
Wizards finally turn back Raptors in OT, strengthen bid for NBA’s play-in tourney | Kareem Copeland | May 7, 2021 | Washington PostIrving, a more elusive player than Harden, should have been the decoy and release valve if Durant was covered.
With Kyrie Irving back, rookie coach Steve Nash has to figure out how to get his stars aligned | Ben Golliver | January 21, 2021 | Washington Post
The former decoy did as bid as Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan entered.
Gripping His Koran, Anas al-Liby Has His Day in Court | Michael Daly | October 16, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTLönnborg, who works as a lawyer in London, has on several occasions posed as Elin, acting as a decoy to throw off the paparazzi.
The impudence of the authorities, to decoy an unsuspecting workingman across the State line, and then arrest him as my accomplice!
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander BerkmanThe boy's pulses leaped toward these things even while his lips curled in disdain at the shallow decoy.
The Dragon Painter | Mary McNeil FenollosaYou make use of your power to run a common decoy house, to do away with men for money.
The Double Four | E. Phillips OppenheimThe 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.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh PendexterThey saw nothing but the wretched decoy vanishing behind the nearest tents.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend | Charles Reade
British Dictionary definitions for decoy
a person or thing used to beguile or lead someone into danger; lure
military something designed to deceive an enemy or divert his attention
a bird or animal, or an image of one, used to lure game into a trap or within shooting range
an enclosed space or large trap, often with a wide funnelled entrance, into which game can be lured for capture
Canadian another word for deke (def. 1)
to lure or be lured by or as if by means of a decoy
(tr) Canadian another word for deke (def. 2)
Origin of decoy
1Derived forms of decoy
- decoyer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse