buy a pig in a poke

1. To buy something sight unseen (a “poke” is a bag): “The mail-order offer sounded like a bargain, but I didn't want to buy a pig in a poke.”

Example Sentences

“Dr. Van Helsing, I don’t quite like to ‘buy a pig in a poke,’ as they say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise.

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Charles Michel, president of the European Council, tweeted after the Johnson meeting, “Ready to put a tiger in the tank but not to buy a pig in a poke. Level playing field is essential.”

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“Just tell me the truth. And if you don’t know, don’t ask me to buy a pig in a poke.”

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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. seemed inclined to try to give lower courts more guidance, saying he was disinclined “to buy a pig in a poke.”

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“Mother says that: Never buy a pig in a poke. I guess a poke is a sack.”

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