COCK-AND-BULL STORY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cock-and-bull story mean? 

• COCK-AND-BULL STORY (noun)
  The noun COCK-AND-BULL STORY has 1 sense:

1. an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

  Familiarity information: COCK-AND-BULL STORY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COCK-AND-BULL STORY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cock-and-bull story; fairy story; fairy tale; fairytale; song and dance

Hypernyms ("cock-and-bull story" is a kind of...):

fib; story; tale; taradiddle; tarradiddle (a trivial lie)

 Context examples 

He had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon himself.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)