Phrase Finder

Idioms · 16 entries

Trickery

What does "Trickery" mean?

A commodity that is bought without first examining it.

A pig in a poke

The United Kingdom. An old expression that exists in various forms in many languages.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Aesop.

Click bait

USA and UK, early 21st century.

Cock and bull story

Britain, 17th century, although the precise source is unknown.

Cry wolf

From the ‘Shepherd Boy who cried Wolf’ story in Aesop’s Fables, translated into English in the 17th century.

Fool’s gold

USA, 19th century.

Full of bull

USA, 20th century.

Hidden in plain sight

USA, 19th century.

Hocus pocus

Britain, 17th century.

Mumbo jumbo

Britain, 18th century. Deriving from an African source.

Play Devil’s advocate

Britain, 18th century.

Pulling your leg

USA, 19th century.

Sixth sense

Britain, 17th century.

Smell a rat

Britain, 16th century.

Smell something fishy

Britain, 19th century. Deriving from an allusion to things that are ‘as slippery as a fish’.

Stitch up

1. Britain, 20th century. 2. Britain, 16th century.

Entry 1

A pig in a poke

Meaning A commodity that is bought without first examining it.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • Jim said that car was a good buy so I bid for it on eBay and it turned out to be a real rust bucket. That’s what you get for buying a pig in a poke.

Pronunciation

Entry 2

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Meaning Someone who uses the pretence of kindliness to disguise their evil intent.

Usage Widely used.

Example

  • He was 38 but tried to pass himself off as a thirteen year old in order to get a date with a schoolgirl - a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Pronunciation

Entry 3

Click bait

Meaning An eye catching word or image on a website.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • Those half-price ads that keep popping up are annoying. They are intended as click bait to draw you into their website but they just put me off.

Pronunciation

Entry 4

Cock and bull story

Meaning An unbelievable tale.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • She said that she went to school with George Clooney but she's only twenty two - I think it's a cock and bull story.

Pronunciation

Entry 5

Cry wolf

Meaning Intentionally raise a false alarm.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • Now Billy, there's no point crying wolf just to stay up a bit later. We all know that there are no witches in your bedroom.

Pronunciation

Entry 6

Fool's gold

Meaning Something that appears valuable but really isn't, like iron pyrites - a worthless mineral that resembles gold.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • The investment promised 80% returns but turned out to make a loss - just fools gold I guess.

Pronunciation

Entry 7

Full of bull

Meaning Talking hot air.

Usage Mostly USA.

Example

  • He claims that he was taught to to wire walk by his parents in the circus, but he's full of bull - I know his father was a greengrocer.

Entry 8

Hidden in plain sight

Meaning Something that defies apprehension by being too obvious.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • After robbing the jewellers the thief just stood in the crowd and watched the police search all the local alleys. I guess hiding in plain sight worked for him.

Pronunciation

Entry 9

Hocus pocus

Meaning A term used to denote magic or trickery.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • He claimed to have evidence of the Loch Ness Monster, but it turned out to be a lot of hocus pocus.

Pronunciation

Entry 10

Mumbo jumbo

Meaning Nonsense or meaningless speech.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • His speech about magical phenomenology seemed to make sense at the time but now I realise it was just mumbo-jumbo.

Pronunciation

Entry 11

Play Devil's advocate

Meaning A person who takes a contrary position from the one being presented, either for the sake of argument or to test the validity of the opposing point of view.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • I didn't really disagree with what he was saying but I decided to play devil's advocate just to get him to try to make a better case for it.

Pronunciation

Entry 12

Pulling your leg

Meaning Tricking someone as a joke.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • You believed her when she said she was the Queen's cousin? I think she was pulling your leg mate.

Pronunciation

Entry 13

Sixth sense

Meaning An imaginary intuitive facility.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • My sixth sense is telling me that I'm going to meet my perfect partner today.

Pronunciation

Entry 14

Smell a rat

Meaning To begin to suspect that things aren't as they should be.

Usage Worldwide.

Example

  • It was when he said I needed to email him my bank details that I began to smell a rat.

Pronunciation

Entry 15

Smell something fishy

Meaning Detect that something isn't as it should be.

Usage Mostly Britain.

Example

  • He's always hanging around outside the women's dorm with a camera. It looks a bit fishy to me.

Pronunciation

Entry 16

Stitch up

Meaning 1. Put someone in difficulty, often by making it appear that they are to blame for a misdemeanour. 2. Repair with needle and thread.

Usage Mostly Britain.

Example

  • 1. When she hid the money she'd stolen in my jacket she really stitched me up for the crime. 2. those jeans are ripped. Pass them over and I'll stitch them up for you.

Pronunciation