Question

Select the meaning of the phrase/idiom.
Pull someone’s leg.
a)To tease somebody
b)To throw somebody out
c)To trip a person purposely
d)To stretch someone’s leg

Answer 1

Hint: An idiom is a phrase or a group of words that have a different meaning from its literal meaning.

Complete step-by-step answer:

Pull someone’s leg means to make fun or play a joke on someone. This idiom was first used in the 1800s in England when street robbers used to ‘pull someone’s leg’ using a wire to trip the person and rob their valuables.
Example- I was pulling his leg when I told him that dogs can talk. Here, we can understand that ‘X’ played a joke on ‘Y’.
Let’s examine the given options to select the correct option:
To tease somebody- It means to make fun of someone. It has the same meaning as the above-given idiom. Hence, it is the correct option.
To throw somebody out- It means to expel or force someone out of a place or an activity. It has a different meaning from the above-given idiom. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
To trip a person purposely- It means to intentionally catch someone’s foot and make them fall or stumble. It expresses the literal meaning of the above-given idiom. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
To stretch someone’s leg- It means to loosen one’s leg muscles after sitting down for a long time. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
The correct answer is Option ‘a’.

Note: Eliminate the options that are least likely to have the same meaning as the above-given idiom.