poodle
part of speech
noun (a poodle, poodles)
meaning for a pupil
1) A dog with thick curly hair, often clipped into fancy shapes; poodles come in toy, miniature and standard sizes. tree →
2) (UK, informal, scornful) A person or country that always obeys someone more powerful. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life a poodle is a clever, popular pet dog. In stories a pampered poodle often wears a bow. In UK newspapers calling someone «a poodle» means they do whatever their boss says.
examples
- Our neighbour's poodle has white curly fur. tree →
- Poodles are clever and easy to train. tree →
- The poodle wore a little pink bow. tree →
- A standard poodle is much bigger than a toy poodle. tree →
- Poodles don't shed much hair. tree →
- The newspaper called the minister the prime minister's poodle. tree →
- A magnificent Poodle appeared, walking on his hind legs just like a man. tree →
note
Poodles were bred as water dogs; their clipped coat helped them swim. Plural: poodles. The scornful sense is political slang.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «poodle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.