A person or thing made use of as a means or tool for inducing some result, as a pretext for some action, or as a cover for sinister designs. Cf. stal…

A person who owes his or her fortune and position, and remains subservient to, a patron; a person who is ready to do another's bidding; a puppet, a…

figurative. A person, esp. one in a prominent position, whose actions are controlled by some other agency, despite appearing to be his or her…

A puppet. Also used derisively of a person. Obsolete.

figurative. A means to an end; a person or thing to be made use of; an instrument or tool. Obsolete.

dialect. Applied to persons, with adjectives of contemptuous meaning. (Cf. tool, n. 3.)

figurative. A person used by another for his own ends; one who is, or allows himself to be, made a mere instrument for some purpose; a cat's-paw.

Hence figurative = cat's paw, n. 2. Obsolete.

A person used as a tool by another to accomplish a purpose; see the earlier cat's-foot, n.

Probably: = cat's paw, n. 2. Obsolete. rare.

One who is a mere tool of another; a ‘man of straw’; in Australia, a man employed to take up crown-land as if for himself, but in reality for…

A person whose function is merely to carry out another's directions; an unquestioningly loyal or obsequious subordinate, a lackey; a person used as…