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pull someone's leg

To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting. It usually implies teasing or goading by jokingly lying.

Etymology:

  • The phrase, from Scotland, originally meant to make a fool of someone, often by cheating them. One theory is that it derives from tripping someone by yanking or pulling their leg, in order to make them stumble and look foolish.
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Submitted on July 07, 2010

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træk nogen i benet

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to pull someone's leg

pull the other one, it's got brass bell…Pull out All the StopsPull Stringspull out of the firepull the rug out from underpull the plugpull the other one, it's got bells onpull the other one, it's got bells onpull the other onepull the plugpull somebody's legpull punchespull out of the hatpull out

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    "pull someone's leg." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/pull-someones-leg_14389>.

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