ragdoll meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

ragdoll

noun

Etymology From rag doll.

A modern American breed of domestic cat with a longhair colourpoint coat that relaxes completely when picked up.

Computer graphics, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences, Video games A model consisting of a set of connected rigid bodies that can collapse in a loose, natural manner.

In this chapter I'll give you a taste of some of the most popular applications for physics: ragdolls, breakable objects, and movie-style explosions.2007, Ian Millington, Game physics engine development, page 401:
It is, in itself, a beautiful little game, but what it really indicates is a new way to create game controls: by simulating muscles rather than arbitrary forces. The rig in Ski Stunt Simulator is a controlled, active ragdoll.2008, Steve Swink, Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation, page 333:

Alternative Alternative form of rag doll (“doll made from cloth”).

Eve came and tea’d with ragdolls, her children. She was strict with them. My tin soldiers weren’t fit company. […] Now she looks like one of her old ragdolls. O where have my tin soldiers gone?1992, Edward Power, “Adam & Eve”, in Patrick Cotter, editor, The Cloverdale Anthology of Irish Poetry 1992, Cork: The Three Spires Press, →ISBN, page 49:
Aunt Jackie looked like one of Fleda’s old ragdolls after the play was done—couldn’t stand if she wanted to.2006, Heather Doherty, Goody Bledsoe, Ottawa, Ont.: Oberon Press, →ISBN, page 25:

1 more example

Let’s imagine your dream business is to sell homemade ragdolls inspired by an old ragdoll that was made by your great-grandmother in France.2015, Kathleen Clauson, “Tips for Starting Your Own Dream Business on eBay and Etsy in Thirty Days or Less”, in Carol Smallwood, editor, Women, Work, and the Web: How the Web Creates Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, part I (Fostering Change), page 83:

verb

Etymology From rag doll.

Hobbies, Lifestyle, Skateboarding, Skiing, Snowboarding, Sports, Video games To be flung about so that the limbs move loosely.

To move, roll, fall, etc., so that the limbs move loosely.

I was so tired that potholes, fumes and noise aside, I slept regardless, my head rag-dolling from side to side.2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 86:

To fling about so that the limbs move loosely.

“Manhandle” isn’t the term for what he’s doing. It’s something more desperate, the way he’s clutching and yanking and pawing at him—our guy is ragdolling his antagonist.2015, Kent Russell, I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son, Corsair, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN:
They worked from the clinch against the ringposts and Daniel handfought to get the Thai Plum, one hand clasped over the other behind the other man’s neck, and there he pinched his elbows together and ragdolled Jung Woo, stepped wide and flung him across the canvas, pulled him back to where knees could be landed if they’d been thrown.2017, Kevin Hardcastle, In the Cage, Biblioasis, →ISBN:

2 more examples

The next time we played Milestone, this time at home, Rob got kicked out of the game in the first period for fighting. It wasn’t much of a fight. The guy wasn’t exactly hellfire on skates. Rob and him dropped their gloves, and Rob proceeded to ragdoll the guy. I don’t think the guy even got a punch in.2020, Jerry “Teabag” Hack, Memoir of a Hockey Nobody: They Said I Couldn’t Make the NHL, So I Went Out and Proved Them Right!, Tellwell Talent, →ISBN:
The storm was brutal. It ragdolled my skinny body and tossed me all over the vessel until it hurled me right at Captain Vex’s cabin door.2023, Sk Alham Zain, Fabricated Realities: Short-Stories from the Past, Present, and Future, BlueRose Publishers, →ISBN, page 37:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.