put one over

English

Alternative forms

• get one over on, pull one over

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

put one over (third-person singular simple present puts one over, present participle putting one over, simple past and past participle put one over)

1. (idiomatic) To succeed in a deception.
2. (idiomatic, with on) To fool, trick, or deceive.
   • 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 9, in The Little Nugget:

     "[Y]ou surely aren't thinking you can put one over on me in this business? Tell me, you don't take me for that sort of ivory-skulled boob?"

   • 2007 May 16, Andrew Downie, “Brazil Braces for a (Bogus) Soccer Milestone”, in Time, retrieved 28 June 2015:

     He is the bad-boy-made-good, and in Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro, everyone loves someone who can put one over on authority.

Related terms

• put on

See also

• put-up