bluff Idiom

call his bluff

challenge his story, give it to me straight, put up or shut up When I called his bluff about low profits, he admitted that the company made 11 million.

call one's bluff

Idiom(s): call one's bluff

Theme: CHALLENGE

to demand that someone prove a claim; to demonstrate that a person is or is not being deceptive.
• All right, I'll call your bluff Show me you can do it!
• Tom said, "I've got a gun here in my pocket, and I'll shoot if you come any closer!" "Go ahead," said Bill, calling his bluff.

call one's bluff|bluff|call

v. phr., informal To ask someone to prove what he says he can or will do. (Originally from the card game of poker.) Tom said he could jump twenty feet and so Dick called his bluff and said "Let's see you do it!"

bluff

bluff
see call someone's bluff.

call someone's bluff

call someone's bluff
Expose someone's deception, invite a showdown, as in I don't believe they have enough capital; I'm going to call their bluff. This term comes from poker, where bluffing (pretending) that one has better cards than one's opponents is an intrinsic part of the game, and calling someone's bluff means forcing them to show their cards. By the late 1800s it was being applied to other enterprises. Also see show one's hand.

More Idioms/Phrases

call of duty call one's own call someone's bluff call to account call to order Cambrian

English Vocalbulary

bluffer bluffers bluffing bluffs bluing bluish bluish black blunder blunderbuss blunderbusses blundered blundering blunderingly blunders blunger blunt blunt (to) blunted