cock-and-bull

views updated

cock-and-bull applied to an idle story. XVIII. orig. in phr. talk of (a story of) a cock and a bull (XVII), said of rambling and misleading talk; parallel to F. coq-à-l'âne (anglicized as †cockalane XVII), orig. in phr. saillir du coq en l'âne ‘jump from the cock to the ass’.

More From encyclopedia.com