Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A poppet valve.
- noun A small wooden strip on a gunwale that forms or supports an oarlock.
- noun One of the beams of a launching cradle supporting a ship's hull.
- noun Chiefly British A darling.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A puppet.
- noun A term of endearment. See
puppet . - noun A shore or piece of timber placed between a vessel's bottom and the bilgeways, at the foremost and aftermost parts, to support her in launching. See cut under
launching-ways . - noun One of the heads of a lathe. Also
popit . See cut underlathe-head . - noun A puppet-valve.
- noun Small bits of wood upon a boat's gunwale, to support the rowlocks and washstrake.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun See
puppet . - noun (Naut.) One of certain upright timbers on the bilge ways, used to support a vessel in launching.
- noun (Mach.) An upright support or guide fastened at the bottom only.
- noun same as
poppit . - noun See
Headstock (a).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun informal An endearingly sweet or beautiful
child . - noun informal A young
woman orgirl . - noun The stem and valve head in a
poppet valve . - noun A figurine or image of idolatry.
- noun A
doll made inwitchcraft to represent a person, used incasting spells on that person. - noun nautical One of certain
upright timbers on thebilge ways, used to support a vessel in launching. - noun engineering An upright
support orguide fastened at the bottom only.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a mushroom-shaped valve that rises perpendicularly from its seat; commonly used in internal-combustion engines
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Six days ago, when I brought her my first earnings in fulltwenty-three roubles forty copecks altogethershe called me her poppet: poppet, said she, my little poppet.
Chapter II. Part I 1917
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Except they were red shoes, so maybe it's more like Dorothy, or that poppet from the Andersen story.
Archive 2006-11-01 lili 2006
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Except they were red shoes, so maybe it's more like Dorothy, or that poppet from the Andersen story.
Of rattlesnakes and ruby slippers lili 2006
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The poppet was a little doll manufactured from a corn-cob, dressed in an indigo-colored gown.
The Pot of Gold And Other Stories Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman 1891
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The English may often be laughable -- with reference to gourds (guards), a "poppet" (puppet) government and "spatial fours" (special forces) -- but it does the job.
Selling the Taliban Joanna Nathan 2008
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Which I understand "poppet" means exactly the opposite of what many people think it means.
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We grant the "poppet;" we concede the "chickabiddy;" and then sternly inquire if an excess of loyalty is to impugn the reason of the most ratiocinative editor?
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, December 11, 1841 Various
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Betty, the editor's housemaid, has given warning, declaring that she cannot live with any gentleman who insists upon taking her in his arms, and tossing her up and down as if she was no more than a baby; at the same time making a chirruping noise with his mouth, and calling her "poppet" and "chickabiddy."
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, December 11, 1841 Various
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There has never been an indication that this poppet was prone to failure.
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Maximum flight cycles on any poppet of the design that failed on STS-126 is 11 or 12.
minerva commented on the word poppet
These lines of Rowe have got into my head; and I shall repeat them very devoutly all the way the chairmen shall poppet me towards her by-and-by.
October 11, 2007
treeseed commented on the word poppet
(n): affectionate term for a small child
(n): Voodoo doll
(n): small doll used in sympathetic magic in some forms of Wicca
(n): any small doll
archaic form of puppet
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word poppet
Properly preceded by the word "my" when said, with a cackling laugh by crones of a certain age.
January 21, 2008
catkisses commented on the word poppet
Don't you have to be British to use this word? :)
August 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word poppet
"POPPETS, the name of perpendicular pieces of timber which are fixed on the fore and aftmost parts of the bulgeways, to support the ship when launching."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 350
October 13, 2008
dontcry commented on the word poppet
Cat - I think you pretty much need to be to pull it off without sounding...what's the word...?
Brits! They get all the fun words!
October 13, 2008
frindley commented on the word poppet
If not British/Aussie then you have to be Arthur Miller.
The Crucible was the first and as far as I can recall the only time I've ever encountered this word in print/literature, and then in its "technical" sense. Although it was long familiar to me as a term of endearment for little girls here in Australia.
October 13, 2008