rag doll
2
5.8
- noun
- /ræɡ dɑl/
- Specialized
:
muñeca física
- In the game, the avatar's body flopped around like a rag doll when it collided with the wall.
- limp as a rag doll
- around like a rag doll
Examples
-
The character fell to the ground like a rag doll after being hit by the explosion.
-
Charley's head and shoulders popped up in the passageway; without a pause, he grabbed Waddel by the middle and dumped him like a rag doll in his seat.
Fiction book (1990) -
The dog is being thrown around like a rag doll.
Fiction book (1998) -
His whole body flew over like a rag doll in fast motion.
Fiction book (1993) -
And you were as limp as a rag doll.
Fiction book (1995) -
Roach hits the ground limp as a rag doll.
Fiction book (1991) -
He shook her until she was as limp as a rag doll.
Fiction book (1991) -
It flopped to one side, sickeningly loose, like the foot of an old rag doll.
Fiction book (1991) -
Other marchers, wounded and dazed, lay in the street, their limbs twisted into rag doll shapes.
Fiction book (1999) -
Her legs appeared to be broken and were bent into an unnatural position, the way a rag doll sometimes lands when a child tosses it aside after she has finished playing with it.
Fiction book (2000)
How Realistic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound literally evokes a doll made of rags, which conveys a clear image of something limp or floppy, so a learner who knows 'rag' and 'doll' will likely infer the core sense (moves or falls limp). However, the specific technical extension in gaming/animation — a physics-simulated character model that reacts dynamically to forces — is a specialized metaphorical use that may not be fully predictable from the parts alone. Because the basic image is transparent but the precise technical meaning requires prior exposure, the expression is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The video game sense of rag doll comes from the toy: when a game character suddenly stops moving and falls, it looks like a cloth doll made of rags. So in games 'rag doll' means a model that 'becomes limp' and tumbles like a soft toy.