über den Löffel barbieren

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

German

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From barbieren in the sense of “to rip off, defraud”, as also in scheren, English shave.

The phrase über den Löffel (over the spoon) refers to a traditional barber's technique where the shaving of a person with sunken cheeks would be facilitated by pushing them out with a spoon. In the present idiom, the phrase typically merely serves to intensify the meaning of the verb without any direct semantic relation.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

[edit]

über den Löffel barbieren (weak, third-person singular present barbiert über den Löffel, past tense barbierte über den Löffel, past participle über den Löffel barbiert, auxiliary haben)

  1. (idiomatic, dated) pull a fast one [with accusative]

Conjugation

[edit]