rag doll

noun

1. a stuffed doll, especially of cloth.

Word History and Origins

Origin of rag doll¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Idioms and Phrases

A limp, ineffectual person, as in You won't get a decision from her; she's a rag doll when it comes to making up her mind. This expression transfers the limpness of a soft doll made from scraps of cloth to human behavior. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

"You held him like a rag doll, didn't you," barrister Gordon Cole KC asked Ives.

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One of the children is much older and bigger than Ethan, and bounces "forcefully", while Ethan flops around, "like a rag doll", the prosecution said.

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He recalls watching a mature Ash tree, which he estimates had grown over 60 feet tall, being "blown around like a rag doll".

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“The entirety of the X2 ride was extremely rough and jerked its riders around like rag dolls,” according to the complaint.

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She was, in her own words, treated “like a rag doll, like a garbage bag“.

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