false colours

plural noun

1. a flag to which one is not entitled, flown esp in order to deceive

   the ship was sailing under false colours

2. an assumed or misleading name or guise

   to trade under false colours

Example Sentences

I could only have gone as a professed wizard or prophet—under false colours, in fact.

From Project Gutenberg

She feels she has been sailing under false colours and desires to make some reparation.

From Project Gutenberg

He was sailing under such false colours as her brother's benefactor.

From Project Gutenberg

He was there under false colours, being a spy of the other camp, but something in him found itself at home among the patriots.

From Project Gutenberg

I said all this just naturally, not wishing him to think that I feared Edmond Czerny nor was willing to hoist false colours.

From Project Gutenberg