cat’s paw
cat’s paw (metaphor)
/ˈkæts pɔː/
Synopsis
“Cat’s paw” means a person used by another to do risky or blameworthy work, a sense drawn from a seventeenth-century fable in which a cat is exploited for someone else’s gain.
Meanings
- Someone used by another to do risky or dishonest work.
- A person who is deliberately used or manipulated by someone else to carry out risky, unpleasant, or dishonest actions, while the real instigator remains hidden.
- Someone made to take blame or face consequences for decisions planned by others.
- (Specialized, nautical) A small ripple or patch of wind that briefly disturbs the surface of calm water.
- (Specialized, sailing) A light, short-lived gust of wind appearing suddenly and disappearing just as quickly.
Synonyms: dupe; pawn; tool; scapegoat; stooge; puppet.
Example Sentences
- He later realized he had been used as a cat’s paw, sent forward to deliver bad news while his boss stayed silent.
- The politician let a junior aide act as a cat’s paw, shielding himself from public backlash.
- A faint cat’s paw crossed the lake, roughening the water for only a few seconds.
- (literal) The sailor noticed a cat’s paw moving across the sea and trimmed the sails in response.
Origin and History
Literary Origin
The idiom “cat’s paw” traces its origin to a moral fable centered on deception and self-interest. The defining source is Fables by Jean de La Fontaine, published in 1679, in which a monkey persuades a cat to retrieve roasting chestnuts from a fire. The monkey enjoys the reward, while the cat suffers the burns. From this narrative emerged a vivid image of manipulation in which one party bears the risk for another’s gain.
Adoption into English
Although the fable is French, the expression entered English usage in England during the late seventeenth century, when La Fontaine’s work was widely read and adapted. English writers quickly recognized the story’s moral clarity and began using the image metaphorically, without retelling the fable itself. The phrase soon functioned as a shorthand for indirect exploitation rather than a literary allusion.
Earliest Printed Evidence
An early figurative appearance in English is found in John Ray’s A Collection of English Proverbs, published in 1699, where the metaphor is already established and requires no explanation:
“The monkey made the cat his paw.”
This quotation confirms that the expression had already moved beyond storytelling and into common moral and social commentary by the end of the seventeenth century.
Semantic Consolidation
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “cat’s paw” settled into its modern figurative meaning. The emphasis shifted from naïveté to intention, highlighting the role of a hidden instigator who uses another person to carry out risky, unpleasant, or blame-worthy actions. This refinement made the idiom especially useful in political, legal, and organizational contexts.
Independent Nautical Sense
Alongside its figurative use, the term developed a separate meaning in maritime language, referring to a small, fleeting ripple of wind on calm water. This nautical sense arose independently and never displaced the metaphorical meaning, which has remained dominant in general English.
Enduring Significance
Today, “cat’s paw” endures as a concise metaphor for manipulation through intermediaries. Its continued relevance lies in its moral precision: responsibility is shifted downward, while benefit flows upward—an imbalance first illustrated centuries ago and still recognizable in modern life.
Variants
- catspaw
- to act as a cat’s paw
- make a cat’s paw of someone
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