to pull the wool over someone's eyes
7
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
engañar
- Perhaps she wanted to pull the wool over her husband's eyes.
- tried to pull the wool over my eyes
Examples
-
Donnie, don't think you can pull the wool over my eyes.
-
You can't pull the wool over my eyes.
-
People thought they could pull the wool over my eyes.
-
You sure pulled the wool over my eyes.
-
Trying to pull the wool over my eyes?
-
If you cannot pull the wool over my eyes, how do you expect to fool all of Scotland?
-
Are you pulling the wool over my eyes?
Fiction book (1991) -
She's trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
-
You know, I don't want to pull the wool over anybody's eyes.
-
You can't pull the wool over someone's eyes and expect to get away with it.
Synonyms
∞
1.3
To say something that is not true to trick someone
326
3.5
To make someone believe something false so you can get what you want
270
3.9
To make someone believe something that is not true to get an advantage
14
8.9
To trick someone by using false words or charm
12
8.3
To trick someone in a clever way so they do not notice
11
7.4
To make someone believe something that is not true
11
8.3
To trick someone by pretending you want to help them
9
9.1
To hide true feelings or intentions by pretending to feel something else
5
8.1
To trick someone to gain an advantage
4
3.9
To make all the people believe something that is not true
4
7.9
To trick someone into believing something false
4
7.8
To make someone believe something that is not true
3
9.1
To avoid giving a direct answer to hide the truth
3
7.7
Make someone do what you want without them noticing
1
7.7
To give false clues so people do not find the truth
1
9.5
To hide your true feelings or plans with a false expression
1
8.1
To trick someone who trusts you by hiding your real plans to get something for yourself
1
9.1
Pretending to be someone else to trick people
To pretend to be someone else to trick people
Make someone believe something false to trick them
Antonyms
How Deceptive
20
5.5
270
3.9
- Informal
7
8.2
58
6.4
87
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
pull + the + wool + over + someone's + eyes
The image of physically covering someone's eyes (pull + over + someone's eyes) gives a plausible clue that something is being hidden, so a learner could infer a sense of deception from the literal parts. However, the specific choice of 'wool' is idiosyncratic and the construction is conventionalized; the full idiomatic sense ('deceive or trick') is not fully predictable without exposure, making it only partly transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Pull the wool over someone's eyes may come from the image of someone actually pulling a piece of wool over another person's eyes to stop them from seeing. That's why it now means 'to deceive' or 'to trick' someone.