wooden Indian
Americannoun
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a carved wooden statue of a standing American Indian, formerly found before many cigar stores as an advertisement.
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(often lowercase) a person who appears emotionless and unresponsive; a poker face.
Etymology
Origin of wooden Indian
An Americanism dating back to 1875–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most people imagine that the wooden Indian has a monopoly of the tobacco sign business, but he has a competitor in the dummy which ostensibly smokes a cigar.
From Scientific American • Sep. 14, 2011
"Swiveling shoulders and licking his lips," Carter has a definite edge over Gerald Ford, "the wooden Indian."
From Time Magazine Archive
Kim Darby seems too far past puberty to be the original Mattie, and Glen Campbell proves the ideal cowboy to chase a wooden Indian.
From Time Magazine Archive
Six feet tall, erect as a wooden Indian, blue-eyed, black-mustached, Secretary Hurley was a sight for sore eyes.
From Time Magazine Archive
“An honest-to-goodness spy!” cried Lettie as the three of us crouched behind the wooden Indian in front of the hardware store.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
