subs. (colloquial).—A deaf mute; also an idiot; sometimes a DUFFER, sense 2.
1879. G. R. SIMS, Dagonet Ballads (‘Moll Jarvis o’ Morley’). And she left us like open-mouthed DUMMIES a-waggin’ our heads at the moon.
2. (colloquial).—Generic for sham substitutes for real objects: e.g., empty bottles and drawers in an apothecary’s shop; wooden half-tubs of butter, bladders of lard, hams, cheeses, and so forth; DUMMIES in libraries generally take the form of works not likely to tempt the general reader. Hence, by implication, anything sham.
1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 185. A DUMMY list of Causes has long since been preferred, to enable Thompson to ascertain whether ‘we are retained on the other side’ when a brief is brought on behalf of either party.
1856. H. MAYHEW, The Great World of London, p. 112. The doorway is set round with sprucely-dressed ‘DUMMIES’ of young gentlemen that have their gloved fingers spread out like bunches of radishes.
1869. E. WOOD, Roland Yorke, ch. ix. The large imposing stock turned out to be three parts DUMMIES.
1871. Daily News. ‘Leader,’ 28 April. The Bill is not yet in the hands of members or public, the document placed on the table of the Lords being what is, in parliamentary slang, called a ‘DUMMY.’
3. (cards’).—The open hand at an imperfect game of whist.
1853. BULWER-LYTTON, My Novel, bk. XI., ch. iv. We might cheer the evening with a game at whist—double DUMMY.
4. (thieves’).—A pocket book.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Frisk the DUMMEE of the screens = take all the bank notes out of the pocket book: Ding the DUMMEE, and bolt, they sing out beef = Throw away the pocket book, and run off, as they call out ‘stop thief.’
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, ‘The Game of High Toby,’ bk. III., ch. v.
| He is caught—he must ‘stand and deliver’; | |
| Then out with the DUMMY, and off with the bit [money]. |
1878. CHARLES HINDLEY, The Life and Times of James Catnach. ‘The Song of The Young Prig,’ Chorus.
| Frisk the cly, and fork the rag, | |
| Draw the fogles plummy, | |
| Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, | |
| And finely hunt the DUMMY. |
[Other colloquial usages are: (1) = dumb-waiter; (2) = a locomotive furnished with condensing engines, and hence without the noise of escaping steam; (3) = a fireman’s term for a jet from the main or chief water pipe; (4) = a hatter’s pressing iron: Cf., tailor’s GOOSE; (5) = a piece of cloth rolled tight and saturated with oil, for rubbing hard places to be cut; (6) = an actor or actress who has nothing to say, etc.]
