Idiom
tell it to the judge
Meaning
I do not believe what you said.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You say you were late because of traffic, but tell it to the judge.”
“He claimed he did not know the rules, but his boss just told him to tell it to the judge.”
“When the defendant insisted that his actions were entirely accidental, the prosecutor scoffed and told him to tell it to the judge.”
Examples
simple
“You say you were late because of traffic, but tell it to the judge.”
contextual
“He claimed he did not know the rules, but his boss just told him to tell it to the judge.”
complex
“When the defendant insisted that his actions were entirely accidental, the prosecutor scoffed and told him to tell it to the judge.”
Origin
The expression originates from a standard retort issued by police officers to suspects who protest their innocence before a trial has commenced. It functions as a dismissal of immediate explanations, suggesting that the suspect reserve their arguments for a formal legal setting.
Key words
Related idioms
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