patsy

The term dates back at least to the 1870s in the United States, close to the peak of Irish migration. The OED's recent revisions link Patsy with Pat and Paddy, the stereotype of the bogtrotter just off the boat. The American Heritage Dictionary and Online Etymology Dictionary quotes the OED it may derive from the Italian pazzo (“madman”), and south Italian dialect paccio (“fool”). Another possibility is the term derives from Patsy Bolivar, a character in an 1880s minstrel skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong, in Broadway musical comedies, for example in The Errand Boy [1904] and Patsy in Politics [1907].

• IPA^(key): /ˈpætsi/
• Rhymes: -ætsi

patsy (plural patsies)

1. (informal, derogatory) A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something.
   • 2003 March 16, Terry Jones, “Poor Tony Blair wakes up”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     And now it's quite obvious that instead of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney listening attentively to Mr Blair's sage advice, they've simply been using him as a patsy—a convenient fig-leaf.

• (by being cheated): sucker; see also Thesaurus:dupe
• (by being blamed): scapegoat; see also Thesaurus:scapegoat

• Tyaps, pasty