rag-doll

child’s plaything, 1776 (from 1757 as “a dressed-up woman”), from rag (n.1) + doll (n.). Rag-baby attested from 1798. Shakespeare has babe of clowts (i.e. “clouts”), 1590s.

A limp, ineffectual person, as in You won’t get a decision from her; she’s a rag doll when it comes to making up her mind. This expression transfers the limpness of a soft doll made from scraps of cloth to human behavior. [Mid-1800s]