to pull the long bow
- idiom
- Archaic
:
exagerar
- Whenever he tells fishing stories, he tends to pull the long bow a bit too much.
Examples
-
Stop pulling the long bow and stick to the facts, please.
-
He always pulls the long bow about his adventures.
-
I wouldn't trust her; she's known to pull the long bow when talking about her achievements.
-
Don't pull the long bow when telling your story!
-
I wouldn't trust her; she's known to pull the long bow when talking about her achievements.
-
Stop pulling the long bow and stick to the facts, please.
-
Whenever he tells fishing stories, he tends to pull the long bow a bit too much.
Synonyms
∞
1.3
To say something that is not true to trick someone
71
6.9
Give a false story about someone or something to trick people
11
7.6
Say something that is not true in a bold, obvious way
11
9.0
Say things that are not true to make people believe you
7
8.2
To trick someone by hiding the truth
5
5.3
To make a story seem better than it really is
3
5.9
To say something that is not exactly what happened to make it look better
1
6.8
To tell a long made-up or exaggerated story
1
4.8
Make up and tell a tale, often to entertain or avoid trouble
1
6.7
To tell a long story that is probably not true
1
9.6
To try to trick someone by saying things that are not true
To make a story sound more exciting or important than it really is
To invent a story or excuse that is not true
To tell someone a false story to impress or trick them
Change facts on purpose to make something seem better
Antonyms
How Exaggerated
50
7.3
- Archaic
258
3.1
- Informal
5
5.3
19
6.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to exaggerate or tell lies' is idiomatic and not directly derivable from the literal meanings of 'pull' (to exert force), 'long' (of great length), and 'bow' (archery implement). The historical/metaphorical origin (draw/pull the long bow) is culturally specific and does not transparently map onto the constituent words, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would not reliably infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Pull the long bow may come from the image of someone trying to pull a very long bow to send an arrow farther than any real bow could reach. Because that picture is clearly impossible, the phrase came to mean 'exaggerate' or 'tell lies'.