decoy

Everyday

1. A decoy is a person or thing used to trick someone and lead them away or into a trap. tree →
2. A decoy is a model of a bird, such as a wooden duck, used by hunters to attract real birds. tree →
3. To decoy someone is to trick them in this way. tree →

In the lessons

In stories, games and war history, decoys distract enemies: fake tanks, dummy soldiers. In nature, some animals act as decoys (a bird pretends to have a broken wing to lead a fox away from its nest). In sport, a decoy runner draws defenders away.

Examples

• The duck decoy floated on the pond. tree →
• The army used inflatable tanks as decoys. tree →
• One friend acted as a decoy while the others hid the present. tree →
• The mother bird pretended to be hurt as a decoy. tree →
• The striker made a decoy run to draw the defender. tree →
• The spy was decoyed into a trap. tree →
• The bird-trap was quite empty, as he had caught nothing, and he had to kill a pied Partridge, which he had tamed for a decoy. tree →

Note

Countable: decoys. Regular verb: decoyed. Pronounced «DEE-koy» (noun), «dih-KOY» (verb, sometimes).