1930 J. Lait Big House i. 6 A first-timer [in prison] is a ‘stooge’.

1935 J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 8 Stooge, first offender.

1942 A. S. Forbes & H. R. Allen Ten Fighter Boys 55 As the squadron was on readiness most of the day, training was difficult to do, but we did some. However, within a fortnight the squadron moved south to ‘K’: we stooges were left behind with one pilot to finish off training.

1937 H. G. Wells Brynhild vi. 85 I have to..proclaim you. Be your Aaron. Your John the Baptist. Your—Stooge!

1937 H. G. Wells Star Begotten vii. 128 He assembled by wire and telephone all his most trusted henchmen, tools, stooges, subordinates, intimates.

1944 Times 6 Jan. 8/3 ‘If the Beveridge plan is adopted, does it mean that we shall all become State stooges?’.. ‘No... I have been a Civil servant myself, and I rather resent the suggestion that a Civil servant is a stooge.’

1948 Observer 7 Mar. 4/2 Communists have no use for democratic Socialists except as stooges, and the end they are working for is not Socialism but the totalitarian police-State.

1951 Negro Hist. Bull. 14 111/1 Black stooges mouthing the sentiments of the white politicians.

1952 R. A. Knox Hidden Stream xvii. 157 If I see a rather nice picture in a shop and..buy it, is that because..I can't resist buying it? But if so, surely my will is not really free: it is just a sort of stooge.

1957 M. Spark Comforters iii. 69 At first I thought she was running a gang, but now, all things considered, I think she may be their stooge.

1960 Washington Post 28 Apr. a 22/1 But..his habit of surrounding himself with stooges and sycophants, inevitably led to the debacle after an egregiously fraudulent election.

1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. a 11/1 Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe..branded the moderate African leaders as ‘sworn stooges of Premier (Ian) Smith’.

1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 37 It's a raid, I suppose. Teddy. It's not exactly a practice stooge-around.

1945 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake (new ed.) 57 Stooge patrol, a patrol on which the pilot does not see, or expect to see, the enemy.

1952 M. Tripp Faith is Windsock v. 86 At one stage we saw a Fortress orbiting slowly, presumably on a stooge with a team of W/Ops jamming enemy frequencies.

1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xviii. 135 We're glad to stooge for a shamus of his standing.

1955 J. Thomas No Banners xxii. 214 One of the Milice degenerates who stooged for the Gestapo.

1973 ‘G. Black’ Bitter Tea viii. 122 For a time Jeremy stooged in espionage, but that must have hurt his feet.

1979 Sci. Amer. May 22/3 That Strang often stooged for Geller is well established.

1941 Illustr. London News 9 Aug. 165/2 (caption) We just stooged about watching the bombers drop their loads.

1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 19 We were stooging along over the Dutch coast.

1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path 1 I put the old Wimpey into a dive and beat him up—you know, pulled out only a few feet above his head and stooged round him.

1953 G. Heyer Detection Unlimited xiii. 208 Stooging round with me, and thinking how much better you could do the job yourself.

1956 ‘J. Wyndham’ Seeds of Time 136 The streets became..full of crowds stooging around.

1958 M. K. Joseph I'll soldier no More xiii. 238 Been in 691 Squadron, stooging around the Channel ports all winter.

1973 N. Graham Murder in Dark Room xviii. 128 I noticed the Austin in the mirror... That made me think I'd seen another black Austin stooging around fairly recently.

1944 Times 26 Jan. 4/2 Anti-submarine patrols form another vitally important part of the Coastal Air Force's work; it is often dull, monotonous ‘stooging’, but is also often well rewarded.

1960 D. Storey This Sporting Life i. ii. 62 I don't want the thought of your stooging always lying over me.

1978 J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xviii. 134 I did some stooging—keeping cave, you know.