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leg-pull

American

[leg-pool] / ˈlɛgˌpʊl /

noun

an amusing hoax, practical joke, or the like.

The entire story was a hilarious leg-pull.

leg-pull British

noun

informal a practical joke or mild deception

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

leg-puller noun

Etymology

Origin of leg-pull

First recorded in 1910–15

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.

This all sounds very experimental as befitting the James Joyce of Portugal, but does it amount to more than a literary leg-pull?

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026

Determined Lubitsch fans may find her presence there a satiric leg-pull in the Lubitsch tradition.

From Time Magazine Archive

"It was only a leg-pull," was the low-toned explanation.

From The King of Arcadia by Lynde, Francis

The Australian has a habit of pulling his mate's leg, and being on his guard against a leg-pull in return.

From Letters from France by Bean, C. E. W. (Charles Edwin Woodrow)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023