▪ I. † deˈcoy, n.1 Obs.
[Derivation and history unknown.]
A game of cards played in the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century.
| c 1550 Diceplay C viij a, Primero now as it hath most use in courts, so is there most deceit in it... At trump, saint, & such other like, cutting at y⊇ neck is a good uantage so is cutting by a bum card (finely) vnder & ouer..At decoy, they drawe easily xx handes together, and play all vpon assurance when to win or lose. 1591 Greene Disc. Coosnage (1592) 4 Ile play at mumchance, or decoy, he shal shuffle the cards, and ile cut. 1608–9 Decker Belman Lond. F iij (N.), Cardes are fetcht, and mumchance or decoy is the game. |
▪ II. decoy, n.2
(dɪˈkɔɪ, ˈdiːkɔɪ)
Also 7 decoye, dequoy, de quoi, duckquoy, 7–8 duckoy, duck-coy, duccoy.
[Decoy, in all its senses (exc. 4 a) and combinations, was preceded by a simple form coy n.1 (known in 1621), a. Du. kooi of the same meaning. Thus senses 1 and 3 are identical with 1 and 3 of coy; sense 2 is a fig. use of 1; 4 b. and 5 are closely related to 3. The combinations decoy-bird, -dog, -duck, -man, etc., were preceded generally by the forms coy-bird, -dog, -duck, -man, etc. It is thus evident that de-coy is a derivative, compound, or extension, of coy n.; but the origin of the de- is undetermined.
It has been variously conjectured to be the prefix de-, the Dutch article in de kooi ‘the coy’ or ‘decoy’, the second half of Du. eende in eende-kooi ‘duck-coy’, and an obscuration of duck itself in duck-coy, which is indeed found in the 17th c., and (what is notable) not merely as the n., but as the vb. (see below). Yet we do not find it as the earlier form, which suggests that it is really a later spelling of popular etymology. The likelihood that decoy is the Du. de kooi has been forcibly urged by C. Stoffel in Englische Studien X. (1887) 180. But direct evidence is wanting. And, since decoy n.1 appears to be an entirely distinct word, being much older in the language than either this word or coy itself, and was probably still in use when coy was introduced from Dutch, it is possible that the latter was made into de-coy under the influence of that earlier word. It is to be noted also that the sense ‘sharper’, 4 a below, actually appears earlier than any other, literal or figurative, and may possibly not be a sense of this word at all, but an independent and earlier cant or slang term; if so, it may also have influenced the change of coy to decoy.]
1. A pond or pool out of which run narrow arms or ‘pipes’ covered with network or other contrivances into which wild ducks or other fowl may be allured and there caught.
| 1625 [see decoy-duck 2]. [1626–41 Spelman in Payne-Gallwey Bk. Duck Decoys (1886) 2 Sir W. Wodehouse (who lived in the reign of James I., 1603–25) made among us the first device for catching Ducks, known by the foreign name of a koye.] 1641 Evelyn Diary 19 Sept., We arrived at Dort, passing by the Decoys, where they catch innumerable quantities of fowle. 1665 ― 29 Mar., His Majestie was now finishing the Decoy in the Parke. 1676 Worlidge Bees (1678) 23 Allured..as Ducks by Dequoys. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. (1680) 286 Piscinas hasce cum allectatricibus et reliquo suo apparatu Decoys seu Duck-coys vocant, allectatrices coy-ducks. 1679–88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. II & Jas. II (Camden) 82 A kennell for the dogs, and a new ducquoy in the park. 1714 Flying-Post 4–7 Dec., Keeper of New Forest in Hampshire, and of the Duckoy there. 1750 R. Pococke Trav. (1888) 94 The duckoy close to the Fleet, where the swans..breed, as well as wildfowl. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 68 The decoy has superseded all those ancient methods of taking water fowl. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 179 Decoys for the taking of wild ducks, teal, widgeons, etc. were..at one time, very common in the fens; but a few only exist at present. 1886 Payne-Gallwey Bk. Duck Decoys 17 A Decoy is a cunning and clever combination of water, nets, and screens, by means of which wildfowl, such as Wigeon, Mallard, and Teal, are caught alive. |
2. fig. A place into which persons are enticed to the profit of the keeper.
| 1678 Otway Friendship in F. iv. i. (R.), You who keep a general decoy here for fools and coxcombs [a brothel]. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 197 The place was cursed with an evil name, And that name was ‘The Devil's Decoy!’ |
3. A bird (or other animal) trained to lure or entice others (usually of its species) into a trap.
| 1661 Humane Industry 170 Wilde Ducks, that are tamed and made Decoyes, to intice and betray their fellows. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 132 Man is to man..a treacherous Decoy, and a rapacious Vulture. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. vii. xii. 235 A number of wild ducks made tame, which are called decoys. 1859 Tennent Ceylon II. viii. v. 366 A display of dry humour in the manner in which the decoys thus played with the fears of the wild herd [of elephants]. |
4. Applied to a person: † a. A swindler, sharper; an impostor or ‘shark’ who lives by his wits at the expense of his dupes. Obs.
(It is, from the early date and sense, very doubtful if this belongs to this word. In the ‘character’ by Brathwait (quot. 1631), there is no reference explicit or implicit to the action of a decoy-duck. It rather looks as if this were a slang term already in use when coys and coy-ducks were introduced into England, and as if coy-duck were changed into decoy-duck with allusion to this.)
| 1618 G. Mynshul Ess. Prison 30 Iaylors..are..indeed for the most part the very off-scum of the rascall multitude, as Cabbage-carriers, Decoyes, Bum-bayliffes, disgraced Purseuants, Botchers..and a rabble of such stinkardly companions. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. i. 71/1 To Sharkes, Stales, Nims, Lifts, Foysts, Cheats, Stands, Decoyes. 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies, Char. Decoy 25 A Decoy Is a brave metall'd Blade, as apt to take as give. Ibid. 31 Which simplicitie of his our Decoy observes and workes upon it. |
b. One who entices, allures, or inveigles another into some trap, deception, or evil situation; = decoy-duck 2.
| 1638 Ford Lady's Trial v. i, I foster a decoy here [his niece, a strumpet]; And she trowls on her ragged customer, To cut my throat for pillage. 1656 Earl of Monmouth Advt. fr. Parnass. 186 These were the true de quois, or call-ducks, which ticed in the scum of the city. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety xviii. ¶5 To lead captive silly women, and make them the duck-coys to their whole family. 1744 Berkeley Siris §108 Some tough dram-drinker, set up as the devil's decoy, to draw in proselytes. 1843 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xli, I want you, besides, to act as a decoy in a case I have already told you of. 1849 James Woodman xxxii, I have the pretty decoy [a girl] in my own hand, I can whistle either bird back to the lure. |
5. Anything employed to allure and entice, especially into a trap; an enticement, bait, trap.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. iii. §24 Intending onely a short Essay, and to be (let me call it) an honest Decoy, by entering on this subject, to draw others into the compleating thereof. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. ii. 178 She that makes her Pretences to Religion a Decoy to catch the World. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 45 Antilopes, not to be taken but by a Decoy made of Green Boughs, wherein a Man hides himself. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. (1721) I. 27 [By] the Duckoy of a Wedding..trepan'd to Death and Murther'd. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times xiv. (1869) 500 A decoy roughly representing the head and antlers of a reindeer has been put up. 1883 A. K. Green Hand & Ring xx, The note had been sent as a decoy by the detective. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as decoy-bird, decoy-dog, decoy-goose, decoy-place; decoy-man, decoyman, one whose business it is to attend to a decoy for wildfowl; decoy ship, one used to decoy enemy vessels.
| 1643 Soveraigne Salve 39 Some dequoy indulgence may be used towards them to draw others, till all be in [their] power. 1711 King tr. Naude's Refined Pol. v. 195 The Bird-catchers, to succeed in their sport, make use of decoy birds. 1775 Epit. in Birm. Weekly Post 17 Jan. (1891) 11/1 Andrew Williams..lived under the Aston family as Decoy⁓man 60 years. 1778 Sportsman's Dict., Decoy-duck..by her allurement draws [wild ones] into the decoy-place. 1799 W. Tooke View Russ. Emp. III. 83 The Ostiaks..placed at some distance several decoy-geese. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 68 Screens, formed of reeds, are set up..to prevent the possibility of the fowl seeing the decoy man. Ibid., The decoy birds resort to..the mouth of the pipes, followed by the young wild fowl. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxii. (1884) 164 The decoy-dog..was a retriever of reddish colour. 1887 Daily News 21 Nov. 2/8 The prisoner had used his shop as a decoy place for poor little girls. 1915 War Illustrated III. 262/2 Decoy ships flying a neutral flag. 1923 W. S. Churchill World Crisis 1915 290 Our two principal devices for destroying the German submarines were the Bircham Indicator Nets and the Decoy Ships, afterwards called the Q-boats. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 73 Decoy ships, a name for certain vessels (also known as ‘Mystery Ships’ and ‘Q-Ships’), introduced in 1915. |
▪ III. decoy, v.
(dɪˈkɔɪ)
[See prec.
The vb. is considerably later than the n., and its earliest examples are spelt duckoy; it was evidently formed directly from the n., of which it reflects the contemporary varieties of spelling.]
1. trans. To alure or entice (wildfowl or other animals) into a snare or place of capture: said usually when this is done by, or with the aid of, another animal trained to the work.
| 1671 Phil. Trans. VI. 3093 The Wild Elephants are by the tame Females of the same kind as 'twere duckoy'd into a lodge with trap-doors. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 168 Their Hogs..at night come in..and are put up in their Crauls or Pens, and yet some turn wild, which nevertheless are often decoyed in by the other. 1735 Sportsman's Dict., Decoy-birds..are usually kept in a cage and from thence decoy birds into the nets. 1788 Reid Act. Powers iii. ii. iv. 565 The arts they use..to decoy hawks and other enemies. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 170 A black horse on the Brasis..being decoyed under a tree by a tame mare. 1845 Yarrell Hist. Birds (ed. 2) III. 266 The outer side..is the one on which the person walks who is decoying the fowl. |
2. To entice or allure (persons) by the use of cunning and deceitful attractions, into a place or situation, away, out, from a situation, to do something.
| 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica Pref. (1661) A ij b, To allure and Duckoy the unwary world. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. (1888) §195 Rolph answered, that the King might be decoyed from thence..and then he might easily be despatched. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 59 ¶1 That they may not be decoyed in by the soft Allurement of a Fine Lady. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 261 Two of whom the mariners decoyed on ship-board. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. v. I. 365 [They] may sometimes decoy a weak customer to buy what he has no occasion for. 1833 H. Martineau Fr. Wines iv. 63 They would not be decoyed away by a false alarm. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves vi. 81 This wretched man had decoyed children into his shop. |
Hence deˈcoyer, deˈcoying vbl. n.
| 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxii. (1884) 162 Decoying was the only item of the wild life still existing in the Broad district with which we had not made ourselves acquainted. |