"patsy" meaning in English

See patsy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈpætsi/ Forms: patsies [plural]
Rhymes: -ætsi Etymology: The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration. The OED's recent revisions link Patsy with Pat and Paddy, the stereotype of the bogtrotter just off the boat. The American Heritage Dictionary and Online Etymology Dictionary quotes the OED it may derive from the Italian pazzo (“madman”), and south Italian dialect paccio (“fool”). Another possibility is the term derives from Patsy Bolivar, a character in an 1880s minstrel skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong, in Broadway musical comedies, for example in The Errand Boy [1904] and Patsy in Politics [1907]. Head templates: {{en-noun}} patsy (plural patsies)
  1. (informal, derogatory) A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something. Tags: derogatory, informal Categories (topical): People Synonyms: dupe, scapegoat Synonyms (by being blamed): scapegoat, fall guy Synonyms (by being cheated): sucker Translations (a person who is taken advantage of): балама (balama) [masculine] (Bulgarian), zondebok [masculine] (Dutch), syntipukki (Finnish), uhri (Finnish), lampiste [masculine] (French), pigeon (French), Sündenbock [masculine] (German), פראייר (frayer) [masculine] (Hebrew), balek (Hungarian), palimadár (Hungarian), blóraböggull [masculine] (Icelandic), capro espiatorio [masculine] (Italian), cornuto m pollo [masculine] (Italian), fesso [masculine] (Italian), zimbello [masculine] (Italian), простофиля (prostofilja) [masculine] (Russian), žrtva (Serbo-Croatian), ovca (Serbo-Croatian), žrtveni jarac (Serbo-Croatian), cabeza de turco (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration.\nThe OED's recent revisions link Patsy with Pat and Paddy, the stereotype of the bogtrotter just off the boat.\nThe American Heritage Dictionary and Online Etymology Dictionary quotes the OED it may derive from the Italian pazzo (“madman”), and south Italian dialect paccio (“fool”).\nAnother possibility is the term derives from Patsy Bolivar, a character in an 1880s minstrel skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong, in Broadway musical comedies, for example in The Errand Boy [1904] and Patsy in Politics [1907].",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "patsies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "patsy (plural patsies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "name": "Pages with entries",
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        },
        {
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          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Icelandic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003 March 16, Terry Jones, “Poor Tony Blair wakes up”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "And now it's quite obvious that instead of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney listening attentively to Mr Blair's sage advice, they've simply been using him as a patsy—a convenient fig-leaf.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something."
      ],
      "id": "en-patsy-en-noun-C0RdAhgM",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, derogatory) A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "by being cheated",
          "word": "sucker"
        },
        {
          "word": "dupe"
        },
        {
          "word": "scapegoat"
        },
        {
          "sense": "by being blamed",
          "word": "scapegoat"
        },
        {
          "sense": "by being blamed",
          "word": "fall guy"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "balama",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "балама"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "zondebok"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "syntipukki"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "uhri"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "lampiste"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "pigeon"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Sündenbock"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "frayer",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "פראייר"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "balek"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "palimadár"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "blóraböggull"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "capro espiatorio"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cornuto m pollo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "fesso"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "zimbello"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "prostofilja",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "простофиля"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "žrtva"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "ovca"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "žrtveni jarac"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
          "word": "cabeza de turco"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpætsi/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ætsi"
    }
  ],
  "word": "patsy"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration.\nThe OED's recent revisions link Patsy with Pat and Paddy, the stereotype of the bogtrotter just off the boat.\nThe American Heritage Dictionary and Online Etymology Dictionary quotes the OED it may derive from the Italian pazzo (“madman”), and south Italian dialect paccio (“fool”).\nAnother possibility is the term derives from Patsy Bolivar, a character in an 1880s minstrel skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong, in Broadway musical comedies, for example in The Errand Boy [1904] and Patsy in Politics [1907].",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "patsies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "patsy (plural patsies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/ætsi",
        "Rhymes:English/ætsi/2 syllables",
        "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Hebrew translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Icelandic translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003 March 16, Terry Jones, “Poor Tony Blair wakes up”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "And now it's quite obvious that instead of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney listening attentively to Mr Blair's sage advice, they've simply been using him as a patsy—a convenient fig-leaf.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, derogatory) A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpætsi/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ætsi"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "by being cheated",
      "word": "sucker"
    },
    {
      "word": "dupe"
    },
    {
      "sense": "by being blamed",
      "word": "scapegoat"
    },
    {
      "word": "scapegoat"
    },
    {
      "sense": "by being blamed",
      "word": "fall guy"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "balama",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "балама"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "zondebok"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "syntipukki"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "uhri"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "lampiste"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "pigeon"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Sündenbock"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "frayer",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "פראייר"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "balek"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "palimadár"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "blóraböggull"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "capro espiatorio"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cornuto m pollo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "fesso"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "zimbello"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "prostofilja",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "простофиля"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "žrtva"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "ovca"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "žrtveni jarac"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "a person who is taken advantage of",
      "word": "cabeza de turco"
    }
  ],
  "word": "patsy"
}

Download raw JSONL data for patsy meaning in English (4.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.