decoy

[ noun dee-koi, dih-koi; verb dih-koi ]
See synonyms for decoy on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who entices or lures another person or thing, as into danger, a trap, or the like.

  2. anything used as a lure.

  1. a trained bird or other animal used to entice game into a trap or within gunshot.

  2. an artificial bird, as a painted wooden duck, used for the same purpose.

  3. a pond into which wild fowl are lured for capture.

  4. an object capable of reflecting radar waves, used as a spurious aircraft, missile, chaff, etc., for the deception of radar detectors.

verb (used with object)
  1. to lure by or as if by a decoy: They decoyed the ducks to an area right in front of the blind.

verb (used without object)
  1. to become decoyed: Ducks decoy more easily than most other waterfowl.

Origin of decoy

1
1610–20; variant of coy (now dial.) <Dutch (de) kooi (the) cage, Middle Dutch cōie<Latin caveacage

Other 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 former decoy did as bid as Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan entered.

  • Lönnborg, who works as a lawyer in London, has on several occasions posed as Elin, acting as a decoy to throw off the paparazzi.

    Elin's New Life in Sweden | Katarina Andersson | September 6, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • 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 Berkman
  • The boy's pulses leaped toward these things even while his lips curled in disdain at the shallow decoy.

    The Dragon Painter | Mary McNeil Fenollosa
  • You make use of your power to run a common decoy house, to do away with men for money.

    The Double Four | E. Phillips Oppenheim
  • The 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 Pendexter
  • They saw nothing but the wretched decoy vanishing behind the nearest tents.

British Dictionary definitions for decoy

decoy

noun(ˈdiːkɔɪ, dɪˈkɔɪ)
  1. a person or thing used to beguile or lead someone into danger; lure

  2. military something designed to deceive an enemy or divert his attention

  1. a bird or animal, or an image of one, used to lure game into a trap or within shooting range

  2. an enclosed space or large trap, often with a wide funnelled entrance, into which game can be lured for capture

  3. Canadian another word for deke (def. 1)

verb(dɪˈkɔɪ)
  1. to lure or be lured by or as if by means of a decoy

  2. (tr) Canadian another word for deke (def. 2)

Origin of decoy

1
C17: probably from Dutch de kooi, literally: the cage, from Latin cavea cage

Derived 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