Idiom
yank someone's chain
Meaning
To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't worry, he is just yanking your chain.”
“I thought I had won the lottery, but my friend was just yanking my chain.”
“The manager enjoyed yanking his employees' chains by suggesting a pay cut, only to reveal it was a joke.”
Examples
simple
“Don't worry, he is just yanking your chain.”
contextual
“I thought I had won the lottery, but my friend was just yanking my chain.”
complex
“The manager enjoyed yanking his employees' chains by suggesting a pay cut, only to reveal it was a joke.”
Key words
Related idioms
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