DECOY
What does "DECOY" mean?
A person or thing used to lure or mislead someone, often a fake bird used to attract live ones.
Meanings
- A model bird or animal used by hunters to lure real ones within range. The hunter set a row of wooden duck decoys on the still pond.
- Anything used to distract or mislead a target away from the real objective. The thieves used a fake delivery van as a decoy.
- To lure or entice into a trap or away from a goal. Scouts tried to decoy the enemy patrol into the ravine.
Did you know?
- The 'coy' in decoy isn't English shyness - it's the Dutch 'kooi' meaning cage, from a 'de kooi' trap-pond where lured ducks were funneled into nets.
Word origin
From Dutch 'de kooi' 'the cage', from Middle Dutch 'kouw', from Latin 'cavea' 'cage'; originally a netted pond used to trap wildfowl.
Remember it
A DECOY is COY by design - it pretends to be one of the flock to draw the real birds in.
A little poem
The wooden duck rides the gray dawn,
still as a prayer on the cold bay-
it never moves, and that's the play.
tercet
Wordplay
- The wooden duck got all the attention at the pond. Even the real ducks said it was a real decoy.
What it teaches
A good decoy never moves; it only has to look enough like the thing you want.
Quick facts
What does DECOY mean?
A person or thing used to lure or mislead someone, often a fake bird used to attract live ones.
Is DECOY a valid word?
Yes — DECOY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is DECOY?
DECOY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does DECOY come from?
From Dutch 'de kooi' 'the cage', from Middle Dutch 'kouw', from Latin 'cavea' 'cage'; originally a netted pond used to trap wildfowl.
What can DECOY teach us?
A good decoy never moves; it only has to look enough like the thing you want.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.