English Explanatory Dictionary

sell wolf tickets

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To make threats or boasts, especially if empty and/or if made to intimidate someone.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sell wolf tickets.wav

Word forms

sell wolf tickets sells wolf tickets selling wolf tickets sold wolf tickets sell woof tickets

Etymology

From wolf ticket/woof ticket, from woofing (“idly boasting”), from woofing (“(emptily/harmlessly) barking like a dog”). Woof ticket/wolf ticket is attested since the 1960s.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary