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cock-and-bull story

cock-and-bull story
C c

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [kok-uh n-boo l]
    • /ˈkɒk ənˈbʊl/
    • /kɒk ænd bʊl ˈstɔːri /
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [kok-uh n-boo l]
    • /ˈkɒk ənˈbʊl/

Definitions of cock-and-bull story words

  • countable noun cock-and-bull story If you describe something that someone tells you as a cock-and-bull story, you mean that you do not believe it is true. 3
  • noun cock-and-bull story an obviously improbable story, esp a boastful one or one used as an excuse 3
  • noun cock-and-bull story an absurd, improbable story 3
  • noun cock-and-bull story an absurd, improbable story presented as the truth: Don't ask him about his ancestry unless you want to hear a cock-and-bull story. 1
  • noun cock-and-bull story far-fetched account 1
  • noun cock-and-bull story (Idiomatic) A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity. 0
See all 6 definitions of cock-and-bull story

Information block about the term

Origin of cock-and-bull story

First appearance:

before 1600
One of the 39% oldest English words
First recorded in 1600-10; probably with orig. reference to some fable in which a cock and bull figure

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Cock-and-bull story

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Cock-and-bull story

cock-and-bull story popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 7% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

Synonyms for cock-and-bull story

noun cock-and-bull story

  • fish story — an exaggerated or incredible story: It was just another one of his fish stories.
  • flight of fancy — An idea or statement that is very imaginative but complicated, silly, or impractical can be referred to as a flight of fancy.
  • song and dance — a story or statement, especially an untrue or misleading one designed to evade the matter at hand: Every time he's late, he gives me a song and dance about oversleeping.
  • tall tale — far-fetched story
All 4 Synonyms of cock-and-bull story

See also

Matching words

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