living dolln.
/ˌlɪvɪŋ ˈdɒl/, U.S. /ˌlɪvɪŋ ˈdɑl/ 1. A person (esp. a woman) resembling a doll in some way; spec. (a) a person of doll-like appearance, or with doll-like features; a particularly attractive person; (b) a helpless, docile, or compliant person, or one who is treated as a plaything.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [noun] > prettiness > specifically of woman > pretty girl or woman
primerolea1350
jolyvet1413
prim1509
nicebeceturc1520
bit of stuff?1553
nicebice1595
dabchick1612
rosebud1668
doll1778
living doll1785
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
a bit (also piece) of all right1895
bit of fluff1903
dolly1906
baby doll1908
cutiea1911
cutie-pie1920
kewpie1946
tchotchke1968
tchotchkeleh1985
society > authority > subjection > obedience > manageability > [noun] > compliancy > person(s)
compliant1655
complier1660
living doll1785
willow1832
1785 Eleanora I. xii. 45 Madame de V—— is beautiful as an angel, but she has so steady a determination not to discompose her features by a single turn of expression, that it is some time before you can discover whether it is a wooden, or a living doll, you speak to—her mechanical curt'seys would confirm you in the first suspicion.
1812 E. Hitchener Let. 1 Jan. in W. E. Peak Shelley (1927) 337 My patience was tried more than common, by one of those poor creatures of our sex, who..cannot exist one hour without..assistance... I am at times pestered with these living dolls.
1840 G. Darley Thomas à Becket iii. i. 53 I love..the caw of rooks, much better..than the lisp of a Circean dame Or babble of a living doll.
1867 J. W. De Forest Miss Ravenel's Conversion xxxiii. 464 She was born for maternity... She had a living doll, her own, her soul's doll, to care for and worship.
1872 Ladies' Repository Sept. 231 The coiffures are, of course, constructed in the latest style; the Parisian hair-dresser has waited on Miss So-and-so; he has powdered the little creature till she looks like an old-time French marchioness; and the pride of the living doll is about equal to one of these.
1959 L. Bart Living Doll (song, perf. ‘Cliff Richard’) 2 Got myself a crying, talking, sleeping, walking, Living Doll. Got to do my best to please her just 'cos she's a Living Doll.
1985 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 20 Sept. c3 At first, as she writes, ‘I was Elvis' doll, his own living doll, to fashion as he pleased.’ She was subservient, in awe of her master and mentor.
1990 K. Lawrence Springs Living Water v. 112 Min and her girlfriends consistently voted him the cutest boy in school—‘A living doll’ she wrote carefully next to his name in her seven-year diary.
2003 New Yorker 15 Dec. 109/2 Penny is coy and cute, a living doll with strawberry-blond sausage curls.
2. U.S. colloquial. A kind or helpful person; a person who has treated someone else particularly well or has behaved in an especially friendly, thoughtful, or obliging way.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > kindness > [noun] > person
well-willing1340
good doerc1400
well-doerc1400
sootc1430
well-willer1443
benefeterc1449
benevoler?1488
benefactor1532
good-willera1541
well-wisher?1576
ministering angel1592
well-meaner1597
angel1598
obliger1634
Samaritan1640
well-woulder1643
obligator1798
benevolist1825
living doll1961
1961 Valley News (Van Nuys, Calif.) 5 May 7 b/8 We asked his help on it, and he was more than willing to assist us…. He's a living doll.
1979 Washington Post 18 July a3/4 The ambassador [from] Guinea must weigh 400 pounds, but he's a living doll.
1988 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 28 Mar. 9 c I think you are a living doll for standing by your man as you have.
2001 Intelligencer Jrnl. (Lancaster, Pa.) 23 Nov. b1 Everyone is so nice and Debbie..is a living doll.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1785