pull someone's leg

idiom

informal
: to make someone believe something that is not true as a joke : to trick or lie to someone in a playful way
I panicked when he said the test was tomorrow, but then I realized he was just pulling my leg.

Dictionary Entries Near pull someone's leg

pull socket

pull someone's leg

pull station

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Pull someone's leg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pull%20someone%27s%20leg. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on pull someone's leg

Britannica English: Translation of pull someone's leg for Arabic Speakers

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of disparate

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

What Did You Just Call Me?

  • brown chihuahua sitting on the floor with squinting eyes looking at the camera
  • Before we went to her house, Hannah told us her aunt was a flibbertigibbet.
Spell It

Hear a word and type it out. How many can you get right?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can with using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Can you make 12 words with 7 letters?

PLAY
Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games