fob off
Britishverb
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to appease or trick (a person) with lies or excuses
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to dispose of (goods) by trickery
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Sell or dispose of goods by fraud or deception, as in They tried to fob off the zircon as a diamond . [c. 1600]
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Put off or appease by deceitful means, as in We needed her help but were fobbed off by promises . [c. 1600]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Is it really sustainable for them to fob off questions about it with non-answers for weeks on end?
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2023
I have never read any major news story so inappropriately world-weary — and so willing to fob off the press’ failures on the public.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2019
The occult, the creepy, the just plain weird: this is exactly the kind of thing that ordinary detectives fob off onto the Peculiar Crimes team, if they possibly can.
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2014
I wouldn’t put it past Roger to play on Pete’s ambition and sense of self-importance and fob off on him some of the non-recreational aspects of the job.
From Slate ● May 8, 2012
Collins lived in a more reticent century, and attempted to fob off a disease on us as an accomplishment.
From The Art of Letters by Lynd, Robert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
