lie through teeth Idiom, Proverb

armed to the teeth

fully armed, having many weapons The robbers were armed to the teeth when they robbed the bank.

as scarce as hen's teeth

rare, uncommon, not many of them Country doctors are as scarce as hen's teeth.

back teeth are floating

have to urinate, need to pee Please watch for a rest room. My back teeth are floating.

by the skin of one's teeth

barely succeed in doing something.

by the skin of their teeth

by a little, barely He won the election by one vote, by the skin of his teeth.

cut my teeth on

learned as a young person, learned as I grew up Yes, I can tie a bow knot. I cut my teeth on string and ropes.

dressed to the nines (teeth)

dressed elegantly They were dressed to the nines when they went to the opening of the new theater production.

give my eye teeth

give something valuable, give my right arm Does he like me? I'd give my eye teeth to know if he likes me.

gnashing of teeth

anger, complaining When the hospital closed, there was much gnashing of teeth.

scarce as hen's teeth

not many of them, few or none Rural doctors are scarce as hen's teeth. Doctors like the city life.

lie through (one's) teeth

To lie aboveboard and unabashedly. Stop lying through your teeth—we accept affirmation that you were actuality the night of the crime.Learn more: lie, teeth, through

lie through one's teeth

Fig. to lie boldly. I knew she was lying through her teeth, but I didn't appetite to say so aloof then. If John denies it he's lying through his teeth, because I saw him do it.Learn more: lie, teeth, through

lie through (one's) teeth

To lie outrageously or brazenly.Learn more: lie, teeth, through

lie through one's teeth, to

To belie outrageously. Versions of this acutely avant-garde announcement appeared as continued ago as the fourteenth century. William Safire cites its use in The Romance of Sir Guy of Warwick (“Thou lexst amidward thi teth”), as able-bodied as in a still beforehand Northumbrian poem, but credibility out that Shakespeare adopted the throat to the teeth (Twelfth Night, 3.4; Hamlet, 2.2). Of added contempo ancestry is to lie like a trooper, dating from the backward 1800s; the British adaptation is to swear like a trooper. Why a trooper should accept been singled out is a amount of conjecture. Presumably it alludes to the allegorical abridgement of artlessness in the military, abnormally the lower ranks, who lie to escape punishment. Originally “like a trooper” meant vigorously, or with abundant enthusiasm, which acutely was agitated over to lying. Learn more: lie, through

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