leg-pulling

7.0

An act of joking to make someone believe something not true

noun

Informal

: broma

His constant leg-pulling made it hard to know when he was being serious.

Examples

That was just some friendly leg-pulling!
She didn't realize it was just leg-pulling until everyone started laughing.
After all that leg-pulling, I finally understood the joke.
I can't believe you fell for that leg-pulling.
After all that leg-pulling, I finally understood the joke.
His constant leg-pulling made it hard to know when he was being serious.
She didn't realize it was just leg-pulling until everyone started laughing.

Synonyms

put-on

vsleg-pulling

Informal

4 7.5

A false act or story that tries to trick people, often to make them laugh

is a joking attempt to make someone believe something untrue

leg-pull

vsleg-pulling

Archaic

7.1

A joke that tries to make someone believe a false story for fun

is the same meaning but appears as an ongoing noun form

Antonyms

seriousness

53 2.7

A calm and honest way of speaking or acting that shows you mean what you say

How Teasing

prank

Informal

202 3.2

teasing

Offensive

18 2.3

leg-pulling

Informal

7.0

joking

2 1.2

Surface Forms

leg-pulling singular

leg-pullings plural

Morphology

leg-pulling = leg + pull (opaque) = leg + pull + ing

The form is built from 'leg' + 'pull' + '-ing', but the idiomatic meaning 'joking or teasing someone' is not predictable from the literal parts.

Etymology

Leg-pulling comes from the idea of literally pulling someone's leg as a playful trick. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine a gentle tug that makes you stumble and laugh, so leg-pulling means 'teasing' or trying to make someone believe something that is not true.