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Pull the wool over someone’s eyes


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Pull the wool over someone's eyes is an idiom which has been around for many centuries. The meaning is to deceive someone. When someone pulls the wool over your eyes, he/she succeeds in deceiving you.

In earlier days, it was a standard practice in Europe and America for both men and women to wear wigs irrespective of whether they were bald or not. These wigs were usually made of wool. When any thief wanted to steal something that a wig wearer was carrying, they pulled the wig (wool) of the individual over the victim's eyes. Temporarily blinded and confused, the victim didn't know what was happening around him. The thief used this opportunity to run away with what the victim was carrying.

The derived forms of this idiom are: pulling the wool over someone's eyes; pulled the wool over someone's eyes; pulls the wool over someone's eyes


Sample Usage

1. Rajesh pulled the wool over the old couple's eyes, and ran away with all the jewellery and cash.

2. Before buying a house, please read this article. Otherwise, the property dealers will pull the wool over your eyes.

3. He is smart enough. You cannot pull the wool over his eyes.

4. His partner had pulled the wool over his eyes for years by changing the financial data online as well as in hardcopy.

5. The maid pulled the wool in their eyes and went away leaving the child alone at home.


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