marionette

 

Borrowed from French marionnette. The word originally meant a small statue of the Virgin Mary, then also a puppet of her used in religious theatrical presentations, finally generalised to any puppet.

• IPA^(key): /ˌmæɹi.əˈnɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

marionette (plural marionettes)

1. A puppet, usually made of wood, which is animated by the pulling of strings.
   • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:

     If you think we are worked by strings,
     Like a Japanese marionette,
     You don't understand these things:
     It is simply Court etiquette.

2. (obsolete) The buffel duck.^[1]

• marionette line
• marionettist

marionette (third-person singular simple present marionettes, present participle marionetting, simple past and past participle marionetted)

1. (transitive) To control (somebody) as if they were a puppet; to manipulate.

• manipulator

•   marionette on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•   Marionettes in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• metanorite, ortetamine, temeration

marionette (plural marionettes)

1. marionette

marionette f

1. plural of marionetta

• intemerato, mattonerei, mattoniere, riemettano

marionette f (plural marionettes)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of marionete.