cock-and-bull story [ kok -uh n-boo l ] SHOW IPA
/ ˈkɒk ənˈbʊl / PHONETIC RESPELLING
noun an absurd, improbable story presented as the truth: Don't ask him about his ancestry unless you want to hear a cock-and-bull story.
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Origin of cock-and-bull story First recorded in 1600–10; probably with original reference to some fable in which a cock and bull figure
Words nearby cock-and-bull story cock-a-hoop ,
Cockaigne ,
cock-a-leekie ,
cockalorum ,
cockamamie ,
cock-and-bull story ,
cockapoo ,
cock a snook ,
cockatiel ,
cockatoo ,
cockatrice Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for cock-and-bull story As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.
The story of fluoridation reads like a postmodern fable, and the moral is clear: a scientific discovery might seem like a boon.
But along with the cartoon funk is an all-too-real story of police brutality embodied by a horde of evil Pigs.
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
Whatever the FBI says, the truthers will create alternative hypotheses that try to challenge the ‘official story.’
The well-known "cock and bull" stories of small children are inspired by this love of strong effect.
Nothing but an extreme love of truth could have hindered me from concealing this part of my story.
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
A few moments afterward he was seen dragging his own trunk ashore, while Mr. Hitchcock finished his story on the boiler deck.
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.
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noun informal an obviously improbable story, esp a boastful one or one used as an excuse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
A story that is false: “When John came home at 3:30 a.m. , he gave his mother some cock-and-bull story about having a flat tire on the way home.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
An unbelievable tale that is intended to deceive; a tall tale. For example, Jack told us some cock and bull story about getting lost . This expression may come from a folk tale involving these two animals, or from the name of an English inn where travelers told such tales. W.S. Gilbert used it in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888), where Jack Point and Wilfred the Jailer make up a story about the hero's fictitious death: “Tell a tale of cock and bull, Of convincing detail full.” [c. 1600]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.