Idiom
take out an onion
Meaning
Suggests that the performer of the action is not sincere in their grief.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She is just taking out an onion to get her way.”
“Everyone knew she was taking out an onion because she only started crying when the boss walked into the room.”
“His performance of grief was so transparently false that the audience immediately recognized he was merely taking out an onion to manipulate their sympathy.”
Examples
simple
“She is just taking out an onion to get her way.”
contextual
“Everyone knew she was taking out an onion because she only started crying when the boss walked into the room.”
complex
“His performance of grief was so transparently false that the audience immediately recognized he was merely taking out an onion to manipulate their sympathy.”
Origin
The vapours from sliced onions cause tears, allowing someone to pretend to cry. Coined by Private Eye and used as a mock stage description, originally to describe Harold MacMillan.
Key words
Related idioms
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