mutton dummy
noun (plural mutton dummies) Northern Irish
1A light rubber-soled canvas shoe, as worn for sport in schools: their children were going to school in mutton dummies...
- Once he got into his red car, I would sprint in my black mutton dummies trying to beat him to school.
- Each morning, pupils would attend assembly wearing their short trousers and mutton dummies on their feet
- They are heavily into white sports socks, the tops of the ankles showing various team colours, wearing them in conjunction with a pair of trainers or mutton dummies.
2A person who is lacking sense or initiative: you’re left staring like a mutton dummy...
- No sooner have I said that was the 'worst' official I have seen and in the next match I see another mutton dummy.
- She stood there like a mutton dummy.
Origin
1930s: origin unknown; possibly from mutton cloth 'a type of cotton cloth used to wrap meat' (from the resemblance to the material from which the shoes are made) + dummy with reference to the lack of noise they make.