John Doe
12
4.5
- noun
- Formal
:
Juan Pérez
- In legal cases, the term John Doe is often used for an unknown defendant.
And I would love like to end, you know, thanking the whistleblower, John Doe and the whistleblower of the Paradise Papers for their courage to come forward.
- And I would love like to end, you know, thanking the whistleblower, John Doe and the whistleblower of the Paradise Papers for their courage to come forward.
Examples
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The police are trying to identify the body of a John Doe found in the river.
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That's because the man—now imprisoned and officially known as John Doe—had a stack of government-issued identification acquired during the 22 years he had been using a living victim's identity.
Blog text (19) -
We have him under a John Doe for his own protection.
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Just another John Doe, nothing to worry about.
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Remember the John Doe from the tenement fire last week?
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They got you listed under "John Doe."
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John Doe began using the victim's name, even when he went to prison for aggravated battery.
Blog text (19) -
For 22 years, John Doe assumed the identity of a man whose wallet was stolen from his car in 1989.
Blog text (19) -
If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things.
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Currently, mothers may not identify the father by name, and states routinely publish service in obscure newspapers—often under the name of John Doe.
Academic text (2002)
Synonyms
8
7.7
A person whose name you do not know or remember
2
4.8
A person who is like most everyday people
A name used in court to refer to an unknown man, often the defendant
An average person used as a name to represent most people in Australia
A name for an ordinary man like a neighbour or friend
Surface Forms
Morphology
John + Doe
“John Doe” is a conventional placeholder name for an unidentified or generic man; its meaning comes from legal/cultural convention rather than compositional semantics. A B1 learner who knows the constituents (that John is a male name and Doe is a surname or the word for a female deer) would not be able to derive the specific legal/placeholder sense, so the expression is unpredictable from its parts.
Etymology
John Doe comes from old court papers where people used a plain name for a man whose real name was not known. Because John was a very common first name and Doe a simple last name, the name stood in for any unknown man, so today John Doe means 'an unidentified or generic man'.