Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having no foundation in fact or probability; incredible because not plausible: applied to idle and absurd rumors and stories. Also cock-and-a-bull.
Examples
“No cock-and-bull stories for him, such as you romanticists luxuriate in.”
“Donovan cabled Deane in Moscow to tell Fitin one of the biggest cock-and-bull stories one spymaster has ever sent to another spymaster.”
“Humorous half-columns in the local papers, written in the customary silly way by unlicked cub reporters just out of grammar school, tickled the fancy of San Francisco for a fleeting moment in that the steamship Mariposa had rescued some sea-waifs possessed of a cock-and-bull story that not even the reporters believed.”
“While I personally do not think evolution is guiding us in any coherent direction besides the cock-and-bull inchoate state of violence and ambition, De Chardin thought evolution had an intelligent goal (one that does more than favor the right of might).”
The Huffington Post: A Grander View of Evolution, Sans Voodoo
“As Dettmer (with Boyd and Minnie hiding and listening) tells a cock-and-bull story about trying to rescue them, Boyd Duncan erupts from hiding and beats the daylights out of Dettmer with his bunches of knuckles.”
“Samuel! There was a rolling wonder in the sound. Ay, there was!”
“I expect the men will have some cock-and-bull story tomorrow morning, about why they got hold of you, when they find you're not Richard,' went on Julian.”
“And he's the one who conjured up this cock-and-bull story about deaths," continued the inspector.”
“And if you think it escaped me that you mentioned Shurland when you gave me this cock-and-bull tale of being your nearest male relative, you are mistaken.”
“He had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon himself.”
“Any trained psychiatrist is aware that terror is as much torture as physical harm, and any psychiatrist who knows the history of his discipline also knows that terror has been used against the insane as a cock-and-bull "cure" since at least the Middle Ages.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cock-and-bull’.
-
Hyphen Nation
Terms with multiple hyphens, such as rent-a-crowd. Not intended to be a see-how-many-words-one-can-string-together-with-hyphens-used-adjectively sort of list.
much-talked-of, vis-à-vis, tête-à-tête, rope-a-dope, will-o'-the-wisp, dick-a-tuesday, will-in-the-wisp, jack-o'-lantern, jack-with-a-lantern, ear-to-ear, whack-a-mole, no-man's-land and 205 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cock-and-bull.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.