a cock-and-bull story

cock-and-bull story

A wildly exaggerated or falsified story or explanation. When I questioned Wendy about her recent tardiness, she gave me some cock-and-bull story about how her train took the wrong track and she had to hitchhike to work from the station across town.

cock-and-bull story

a hard-to-believe, made-up story; a story that is a lie. Don't give me that cock-and-bull story. I asked for an explanation, and all I got was your ridiculous cock-and-bull story!

cock and bull story

An unbelievable tale that is intended to deceive; a tall tale. For example, Jack told us some cock and bull story about getting lost. This expression may come from a folk tale involving these two animals, or from the name of an English inn where travelers told such tales. W.S. Gilbert used it in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888), where Jack Point and Wilfred the Jailer make up a story about the hero's fictitious death: "Tell a tale of cock and bull, Of convincing detail full." [c. 1600]

a cock-and-bull story

a ridiculous and implausible story.

The expression ‘talk of a cock and a bull’ is recorded from the early 17th century, and apparently refers to an original story or fable which is now lost.