cat's-paw

cat's-paw

A person who is used by another to achieve some end, especially in a duplicitous or cynical manner. Taken from a fable about a monkey who tricks a cat into using his a paw to retrieve chestnuts from a fire. The phrase is sometimes spelled without a hyphen. I thought that Jake really loved me, but in the end, I was just a cat's-paw so he could stir up jealousy in his ex-boyfriend.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

cat's paw

A dupe or tool for another, a sucker, as in You always try to make a cat's paw of me, but I refuse to do any more of your work. This term alludes to a very old tale about a monkey that persuades a cat to pull chestnuts out of the fire so as to avoid burning its own paws. The story dates from the 16th century and versions of it (some with a dog) exist in many languages.
See also: paw
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • cat's paw
  • paw
  • pull the chestnuts out of the fire, to
  • have (one's) monkey up
  • have your monkey up
  • cheeky monkey
  • get (one's) monkey up
  • put (one's) monkey up
  • put a person's monkey up
  • ann
References in periodicals archive
"Cat's-Paw" toys with the sorts of conundrums that could inspire a fallout of dense French literary theory, but the playwright manages to embody them in characters who hold our attention.
Men are conspicuously absent from "Cat's-Paw," and romance is far from the minds and tongues of the Wellman women.
"Cat's-Paw" is rich with odd fancy and arcane imagery, but it doesn't have the tensile cohesion that a piece like this ultimately needs.
CAT'S-PAW