homme de paille — meaning in English
French → English · translate English → French instead
English meaning
- figurehead noun A carved decorative figure mounted on the bow of an old sailing ship.
- shill noun Someone paid to promote or endorse something while pretending to be an impartial customer.
Senses
homme de paille is used for these senses in English:
- figurehead (by extension) Someone in a nominal position of leadership who has little to no actual power.
- front man A person acting as the public face of some other, covert group.
- shill A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
- straw man (figurative) An innocuous person or someone of nominal or lesser importance, as a front man or straw boss.
figurehead — full definition
- noun A carved decorative figure mounted on the bow of an old sailing ship.
- noun Someone who holds a leadership title in name only, without real power or authority.
shill — full definition
- noun Someone paid to promote or endorse something while pretending to be an impartial customer.
- noun An accomplice who bids up prices at an auction or lures players into a gambling game.
- verb To promote something in exchange for payment, especially dishonestly.