Meaning

2 senses

  1. (informal, transitive)To treat (a person) as a patsy or sucker; to pin the blame on.

  2. (informal, intransitive)To mess around; to waste time.

Examples

7 sentences

  1. Tom was too trusting and became a patsy for online scammers.

    Том був надто довірливим і став легкою здобиччю для онлайн-шахраїв.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · deniko · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. The con artists needed a patsy to take the fall, so they framed an innocent bystander.

    Шахраям був потрібен цап-відбувайло, тому вони підставили невинного перехожого.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · deniko · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. He was a patsy set up to take the fall.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · timmartin · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. I'm just a patsy!

    CC0 · Tatoeba · ddnktr · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Was Lee Harvey Oswald really a patsy?

    CC0 · Tatoeba · ddnktr · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish

The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

patsies, patsying, patsied, patsied
Base formpatsy · to patsy
3rd person singularpatsies
Present participlepatsying
Past simplepatsied
Past participlepatsied

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theypatsy
he, she, itpatsies

Past simpleLesson

all personspatsied

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave patsied
he, she, ithas patsied

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill patsy

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
patronagepatronizeC2patronymicpatterpatternB1
patsy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto