verb phrase🎓 English idiom
pull someone's leg
to joke with or tease someone
What it means
To tease or joke with someone by telling them something untrue in a playful way, usually expecting them to realise it isn't serious. It's lighthearted, not malicious.
Words like “pull someone's leg” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- Relax, I'm just pulling your leg, the meeting isn't really cancelled.
- Are you pulling my leg, or did you really meet a celebrity?
- He loves pulling people's legs with outrageous stories.
- She pulled my leg about winning the lottery and I believed her.
Where it comes from
The exact origin is uncertain. The phrase appears in the late 19th century; popular theories about tripping people or hangings are unproven, and the sense is simply of playfully 'tugging' someone along.
Related idioms
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