Pull the Wool Over Someone’s Eyes


🗓️ Idiom: Pull the Wool Over Someone’s Eyes (v)


💬 Meaning

  • To trick or deceive someone, especially by hiding the truth.
  • To make someone believe something that is not true, often for personal advantage.

🧠 Example Sentences

  • The dishonest employee pulled the wool over the manager’s eyes for months.
  • The startup pulled the wool over investors’ eyes with fake numbers.
  • Be careful, they’re trying to pull the wool over your eyes about the deal.

🏛️ Origin

This idiom dates back to the 1800s and is thought to come from the time when men wore wool wigs. If someone pulled the wig (or “wool”) over your eyes, you couldn’t see—just like being tricked or misled. Today, it means to hide the truth from someone.


📝 Practice Exercises

1. Fill in the blank:

The marketing team tried to __________ by showing fake user reviews.

Answer

pull the wool over our eyes

2. Choose the correct meaning of “pull the wool over someone’s eyes”:

A) To clean something
B) To make someone confused on purpose
C) To deceive someone or hide the truth

Answer

C) To deceive someone or hide the truth

3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:

“They gave false information to the board to hide the problem.” → Change the sentence using: pull the wool over someone’s eyes

Answer

They pulled the wool over the board’s eyes to hide the problem.


ℹ️ Other Useful Pages

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👉 Ethics Idioms for Business
👉 Business English Idioms List

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