A person used by someone else to accomplish a goal or get into trouble on their behalf; a dupe or tool; also a slight ripple or breeze on water.
From 'cat's paw,' referencing an Aesop's fable where a monkey tricks a cat into pulling hot chestnuts from a fire; the metaphor has been used since the 1600s to describe someone exploited by another.
This word comes directly from a 2,500-year-old fable, showing how Aesop's stories are literally baked into English vocabulary—every time someone is a 'catspaw,' the ancient cat is still pulling chestnuts from the fire!
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