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# decoy

noun (a decoy, decoys); verb (decoy, decoys, decoyed, decoying)

«decoy» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A decoy is a person or thing used to trick someone and lead them away or into a trap. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#m1)
2. A decoy is a model of a bird, such as a wooden duck, used by hunters to attract real birds. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#m2)
3. To decoy someone is to trick them in this way. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#m3)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x1)
- The army used inflatable tanks as decoys. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x2)
- One friend acted as a decoy while the others hid the present. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x3)
- The mother bird pretended to be hurt as a decoy. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x4)
- The striker made a decoy run to draw the defender. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x5)
- The spy was decoyed into a trap. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x6)
- 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/#x7)

### Note

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

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «decoy» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/decoy/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«decoy» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/decoy.html) on Mova free.