puppet master

See also: puppetmaster

English

Etymology

• puppetmaster

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

puppet master (plural puppet masters)

1. A person who entertains with, or operates puppets; a puppeteer.

   Synonym: puppeteer

2. (figurative, by extension) A person who controls other people or events.
   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 8:

     Puppet-masters were making us all jump and bray, Malik Solanka fretted. While we marionettes dance, who is yanking our strings?

See also

• pull strings

 

Further reading

• “puppet master”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “puppet master”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• puppet master, puppetmaster at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.