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- Dictionarycat's paw
noun
- 1. a person who is used by another to carry out an unpleasant or dangerous task: "he was merely a cat's paw of older and cleverer men"
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The meaning of CAT'S-PAW is a light air that ruffles the surface of the water in irregular patches during a calm. How to use cat's-paw in a sentence.
1. a person used by another to do dangerous, distasteful, or unlawful work; dupe. from the tale of the monkey who used the cat's foot to rake the chestnuts out of the fire. 2. a light breeze that ripples the surface of water. 3. Nautical. a hitch in the bight of a rope, used to form two loops through which a hook can be passed.
A person who is used by another to achieve some end, especially in a duplicitous or cynical manner. Taken from a fable about a monkey who tricks a cat into using his paw to retrieve chestnuts from a fire. The phrase is sometimes spelled without a hyphen.
a light breeze that ruffles the surface of the water over a comparatively small area. the small area ruffled by such a breeze. cat's-paw. noun. a person used by another as a tool; dupe. nautical a hitch in the form of two loops, or eyes, in the bight of a line, used for attaching it to a hook.
"Cat's Paw" means a person who is used by someone else to do their dirty work or carry out their plans. What context can I use the in? Example. He's just a cat's paw for the corrupt politician. Example. The CEO used her assistant as a cat's paw to fire employees. Example. The criminal mastermind always has a cat's paw to do his bidding.
Meaning 1: From a fable, perhaps of Aesop 's, in which a crafty monkey uses flattery to convince a cat to pull hot chestnuts from a fire. The cat singes his paw, and the monkey gobbles up the chestnuts leaving none for the cat.
Nautical A knot made by twisting a section of rope to form two adjacent eyes through which a hook is passed, used in hoisting. [ From a fable about a monkey that used a cat's paw to pull chestnuts out of a fire .] American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
