stooge

[stooj]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stooge ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an entertainer who feeds lines to the main comedian and usually serves as the butt of his or her jokes.

any underling, assistant, or accomplice.

verb (used without object), stooged, stoog·ing.

to act as a stooge.

Origin of stooge

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for stooge

puppet, pawn, lackey, fool, sucker, pushover, patsy, victim, chump, flunky, sap, pigeon

Examples from the Web for stooge

Contemporary Examples of stooge

Other speakers suggested that Barack Obama himself had become a stooge of the Islamists, or possibly even a closet Muslim.
Bachmann, Gaffney, and the GOP’s Anti-Muslim Culture of Conspiracy
Jonathan Kay
July 23, 2012
There is a perceived danger in hiring foreign firms, a fear of being seen as a Western stooge.
Iraq's New Hired Guns
Michael Hastings
January 19, 2010

Historical Examples of stooge

They tried to tell people what Venus was like, and what lies Carlson and his stooge Jaimison were using for bait.
The Merchants of Venus
A. H. Phelps
The papers said that the steel necktie worn by my stooge at the theatre had to be cut off by a water-cooled electric saw.
The Double Spy
Dan T. Moore
If I'm half as good a stooge as I think I am, we'll be needing overcoats before we get back.
Queen of the Flaming Diamond
Leroy Yerxa
If the contest was a part of the day's program, no spectator seemed willing to play "stooge" in this preliminary performance.
David Lannarck, Midget
George S. Harney
And see how he managed to slide in that bit about corruption, right before his stooge handed him that bulletin?
Null-ABC
Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire

British Dictionary definitions for stooge

stooge

noun

an actor who feeds lines to a comedian or acts as his foil or butt

slang someone who is taken advantage of by another

verb (intr)

slang to act as a stooge

(foll by about or around) slang (esp in the RAF) to fly or move about aimlessly

Word Origin for stooge

C20: of unknown origin

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

Word Origin and History for stooge

1913, "stage assistant," of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of student (with the mispronunciation STOO-jent), in sense of "apprentice." Meaning "lackey, person used for another's purpose" first recorded 1937, perhaps influenced by the Three Stooges film comedy act, which had been appearing in movies since 1930, starting as "Ted Healy and His Stooges."