pull the wool over someone's eyes
to deceive someone
TRANSLATION
pull the wool over someone's eyes = jemanden hinters Licht führen, jmd. hintergehen --- GOOGLE INDEX pull the wool (over someone's eyes): approximately 17,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has PULLED THE WOOL OVER Obama's EYES in landing $3 billion worth of fighter jets as well as a promise to veto any severe UN resolutions aimed at Israel over the next year.
(The National Interest)
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"It's a strange time. People wonder if THE WOOL is constantly being PULLED OVER THEIR EYES. It makes for a very vulnerable market," says Robert J. Shiller, economics professor at Yale University.
(BusinessWeek magazine)
(The National Interest)
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"It's a strange time. People wonder if THE WOOL is constantly being PULLED OVER THEIR EYES. It makes for a very vulnerable market," says Robert J. Shiller, economics professor at Yale University.
(BusinessWeek magazine)
Did you
know?
pull the wool over someone's eyes
idiom
- to deceive someone in order to prevent them from discovering something
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The standard explanation for the origin of this expression is that it traces back to the wigs commonly worn by men - especially lawyers and judges - in the 18th century. The idea is that by pulling the "wool" over someone's eyes - wool was slang for wig because of the resemblance to a sheep's fleece - this would blind someone to the facts in a court case.
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, didn't care much for the habit of wearing wigs and once said to the judiciary department: "For Heaven’s sake discard the monstrous wig which makes English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum."
The phrase could just as well have originated from another expression, to "pull the wool" of an opponent, literally meaning to pull their hair in frustration. Thus pulling the wool over their eyes would be a way to deceive them.
Speaking of sheep's fleece, the verb form of the word means to shear the fleece from a sheep, or removing its wool. It is also used figuratively to mean defrauding someone, usually out of money (The trickster fleeced the old lady out of her entire savings).
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SYNONYMS
buffalo, deceive, dupe, hoodwink, pull a fast one, trick
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Don't let anyone pull the wool over your eyes when it comes to investing your money."
idiom
- to deceive someone in order to prevent them from discovering something
---
The standard explanation for the origin of this expression is that it traces back to the wigs commonly worn by men - especially lawyers and judges - in the 18th century. The idea is that by pulling the "wool" over someone's eyes - wool was slang for wig because of the resemblance to a sheep's fleece - this would blind someone to the facts in a court case.
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, didn't care much for the habit of wearing wigs and once said to the judiciary department: "For Heaven’s sake discard the monstrous wig which makes English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum."
The phrase could just as well have originated from another expression, to "pull the wool" of an opponent, literally meaning to pull their hair in frustration. Thus pulling the wool over their eyes would be a way to deceive them.
Speaking of sheep's fleece, the verb form of the word means to shear the fleece from a sheep, or removing its wool. It is also used figuratively to mean defrauding someone, usually out of money (The trickster fleeced the old lady out of her entire savings).
---
SYNONYMS
buffalo, deceive, dupe, hoodwink, pull a fast one, trick
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Don't let anyone pull the wool over your eyes when it comes to investing your money."
