cock-and-bull story

English

Etymology

See the discussion page.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

cock-and-bull story (plural cock-and-bull stories)

1. (idiomatic) A far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 13:

     The grinning landlord, as well as the boarders, seemed amazingly tickled at the sudden friendship which had sprung up between me and Queequeg—especially as Peter Coffin’s cock and bull stories about him had previously so much alarmed me concerning the very person whom I now companied with.

Synonyms

• Banbury story of a cock and a bull

Translations

a far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity

• Dutch: onzinverhaal n
• French: histoire à dormir debout f, conte de bonne femme (fr) m
• German: Lügengeschichte (de) f, Münchhausengeschichte f; (jemandem was) vom Pferd erzählen (to tell someone a cock-and-bull story)
• Hungarian: dajkamese (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: scéal i mbarr bata m
• Russian: ска́зка про бе́лого бычка́ (ru) (skázka pro bélovo byčká) (a tale of a white (young) bull/calf)
• Turkish: kocakarı masalı (tr)

See also

• shaggy dog story
• tall tale
• whopper