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Call your bluff

Posted by GPP on September 05, 2003

In Reply to: Call your bluff posted by Saxon on September 05, 2003

: I'm in fifth grade and I need to find the meaning and origin of this phrase. Can you please help me? Thanks,
: Sax

Hi Sax. The phrase "call your bluff" comes from poker, a card game.
Here's a definition of "bluff":
bluff1
v. bluffed, bluff·ing, bluffs
v. tr.
To mislead or deceive.
To impress, deter, or intimidate by a false display of confidence.
Games To try to mislead (opponents) in a card game by heavy betting on a poor hand or by little or no betting on a good one.
v. intr.
To engage in a false display of strength or confidence.
n.
The act or practice of bluffing.
One that bluffs.
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[Probably from Dutch bluffen, from Low German.]
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bluffa·ble adj.
bluffer n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"Call" and "bluff" are specific terms in poker.

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