Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An attempt to make somebody believe something that is not true, done as a joke.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun as a joke: trying to make somebody believe something that is not true

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Bede may or may not have been right about this facet of Pictish political organisation, but unless his account is an elaborate leg-pull, it was believed when he wrote the Ecclesiastical History in 731 AD.

    Pictish symbol stones – the comb and mirror symbol Carla 2007

  • Bede may or may not have been right about this facet of Pictish political organisation, but unless his account is an elaborate leg-pull, it was believed when he wrote the Ecclesiastical History in 731 AD.

    Archive 2007-02-01 Carla 2007

  • I've been told that senses are sometimes given to concepts at Oxford after the gates close to visitors; but that may be a leg-pull.

    Fodor, Derrida, and Analytical Ennui Chris 2004

  • Afterwards we see the funny side of it and their mishap becomes a standing joke; both have to put up with many a leg-pull.

    Stuka Pilot Rudel, Hans-Ulrich 1973

  • They had set out to have a jolly good leg-pull and I will tell you what happened.

    A Glimpse Into A Submarine 1943

  • An old leg-pull, to make new boys think that his name was really Chips; the joke was almost traditional.

    Goodbye, Mr Chips Hilton, James, 1900-1954 1938

  • An old joke — an old leg-pull, and he, of all people, having made so many old jokes in his time, ought not to complain.

    Goodbye, Mr Chips Hilton, James, 1900-1954 1938

  • The Australian has a habit of pulling his mate's leg, and being on his guard against a leg-pull in return.

    Letters from France 1923

  • It was probably a "leg-pull," or somebody practising his English; but as there was a 1000 to 1 chance of its being sent by some sympathiser in our front, and of the projected

    The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade August 1914 to March 1915 Edward Gleichen 1900

  • His birthday fell on 1 April and in those homespun times April Fool's Day provided passing annual merriment of schoolboy spoof and larks and leg-pull, during which Foufou was bonnily yo-yoed about after breakfast in a blanket in the bootroom.

    Sport news, comment and results | guardian.co.uk Frank Keating 2010

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