One used to serve the another's purposes

Usage examples of catspaw.

John Grady to pull the staples with a catspaw and stand on the wires while Rawlins led the horses through and then raise the wires back and beat the staples into the posts and put the catspaw back in his saddlebag and mount up to ride on.

Through the early part of the afternoon we were never quite becalmed but Uncle had to search out catspaws on the water to find some puff of wind.

But the Thuella had not sunk, and the mist was stirred by catspaws of wind, and the wind became a breeze and, even though damaged, the schooner had outrun her pursuer and taken refuge in the vast Bassin d'Arcachon.

It was not that the American was afraid of a fight, but it was one thing to fight at sea, where he knew the meaning of every catspaw on the water and where he could use his skill at the Thuella's helm to run confusion about his enemies, and quite another to contemplate a fight on dry land.

Crossing the old Mark Fury ranch in the night where they'd dismounted at the crossfences for John Grady to pull the staples with a catspaw and stand on the wires while Rawlins led the horses through and then raise the wires back and beat the staples into the posts and put the catspaw back in his saddlebag and mount up to ride on.

But I must not, for it's a kind of catspaw too, the bait of the strategic trap my adversary is laying.

I had identified myself, aufond, with him: he was, for me, my alter ego, my walking mask, my catspaw, my puppet, my front man.