puppeteern.
/ˌpʌpᵻˈtɪə/, U.S. /ˌpəpəˈtɪ(ə)r/ A person who operates a puppet or puppets; spec. a person who manages or stages puppet shows. Also figurative and in figurative contexts: a person who controls or manipulates others (cf. puppet n. 3c).
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > puppetry > [noun] > puppeteer
puppet player1601
puppet man1620
motion-man1631
puppet master1631
poppet-playera1656
poppet-shower1715
puppet-showman1715
puppeteer1915
marionettist1918
1915 Chicago Sunday Tribune vii. 2/1 Besides having to work the limbs, head, and body in a lifelike way, each puppeteer has to learn the part perfectly.
1934 Church Times 30 Nov. 614/4 Every puppeteer has his own whimsies. Mr. William Simmonds..makes as well as manipulates his own puppets.
1947 Sun (Baltimore) 14 Oct. 5/4 A cartoon in the Communist party newspaper Pravda today pictured the United States as a puppeteer manipulating votes of delegates in the United Nations.
1969 A. R. Philpot Dict. Puppetry 8 The compiler of the Dictionary has had around forty years as a professional puppeteer.
1971 Daily Courier (Connellsvile, Pa.) 15 July 18/6 The $64,000 question is whether Peron wants to excercise direct power or continue to play political puppeteer.
2002 Asian Theatre Jrnl. 19 186 A single puppeteer..chants poetry, narrates the story, and in a number of voices conducts the dialogue for thirty to fifty characters.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
puppeteerv.
/ˌpʌpᵻˈtɪə(r)/, U.S. /ˌpəpəˈtɪ(ə)r/ Originally U.S.
1. transitive. To manipulate or control.
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1940 Chicago Tribune 29 May 4/2 He even dissolved his parliament and called for new elections, asserting it was puppeteering him.
1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp vii. 145 Doesn't fate puppeteer humans in a weird way?
1989 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 25 Oct. Sir Robert Sparkes is puppeteering the Government.
2003 E. C. Gaskell Compl. Guide Digital Video 82 Even PAs are puppeteered by producers who are far too busy wrestling with the budget they've been given.
2. intransitive. To act or work as a puppeteer.
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1970 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 15 Mar. 22/5 Bil Baird..has been puppeteering for almost half a century.
1984 News (Frederick, Maryland) 10 Sept. b10/1 His father trimmed department store windows for a living, but puppeteered on weekends and nights.
1993 G. Bear Moving Mars 414 I slumped in my seat, anxious to be on the ground working direct and not puppeteering from a hundred kilometers.
2001 Dreamwatch Oct. 46/1 I have know Steven since I puppeteered on the original Jurassic Park.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1915v.1940