pull someone's leg

Contents

EnglishEdit

VerbEdit

pull someone's leg

1. (idiomatic) To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting. It usually implies teasing or goading by jokingly lying.
   • 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, 1992 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 111:

     I hadn't pulled Mrs. Barstow's leg for any of that stuff, she had just handed it to me on a platter, and that wasn't my fault.

See alsoEdit

• yank someone’s chain
• have a lend of someone
• make a fool of somebody
• wind up
• kid

TranslationsEdit

to tease someone

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開玩笑 (zh), 开玩笑 (zh) ‎(kāiwánxiào) (usage: 开...的玩笑), 嘲弄 (zh) ‎(cháonòng)

• French: monter un bateau à quelqu'un, faire marcher quelqu'un (fr)
• German: jemanden durch den Kakao ziehen (de), jemanden in die Irre führen, verarschen (de)
• Italian: prendere in giro
• Polish: nabrać kogoś

• Russian: дразни́ть (ru) impf ‎(draznítʹ), насмеха́ться (ru) impf ‎(nasmexátʹsja) (colloquial, над (nad) + instrumental case), подка́лывать (ru) impf ‎(podkályvatʹ) (colloquial), прика́лываться (ru) impf ‎(prikályvatʹsja) (colloquial, над (nad) + instrumental case)
• Scottish Gaelic: tarraing à cudeigin
• Spanish: picar a alguien cizañear (es) meter cizaña, sacar picas, provocar (es), tomar el pelo (es)
• Turkish: dalga deçmek