Idiom
cock-and-bull story
Meaning
A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't believe his cock-and-bull story about meeting a famous actor.”
“He invents a cock-and-bull story every time he loses his homework.”
“She told us some cock-and-bull story about why she was late, but nobody believed her.”
“The salesman tried to sell me an expensive insurance plan with a cock-and-bull story about a secret law that requires every homeowner to buy it.”
“The old sailor entertained the tavern with a cock-and-bull story of sea monsters and buried treasure, though his listeners knew every word was invented.”
Examples
simple
“Don't believe his cock-and-bull story about meeting a famous actor.”
“He invents a cock-and-bull story every time he loses his homework.”
contextual
“She told us some cock-and-bull story about why she was late, but nobody believed her.”
“The salesman tried to sell me an expensive insurance plan with a cock-and-bull story about a secret law that requires every homeowner to buy it.”
complex
“The old sailor entertained the tavern with a cock-and-bull story of sea monsters and buried treasure, though his listeners knew every word was invented.”
Origin
Unknown. The phrase is noted as similar in meaning and form to French coq-à-l'âne (“satire, incoherent story”, literally “cock to the ass”) which was borrowed into Scots as cockalane. theories of origin Theories of the term's ultimate origin include allusions to stories which feature talking animals and that the term refers to gossip typical of what were historically two coaching inns, The Cock and The Bull, in Stony Stratford, England.
Key words
Related idioms
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