(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
1.
A ~ is an attempt to make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it.
It is essential to build up the military option and show that this is not a ~...
What we’re at here is a game of ~.
N-VAR
see also double ~
2.
If you call someone’s ~, you tell them to do what they have been threatening to do, because you are sure that they will not really do it.
The Socialists have decided to call the opposition’s ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
3.
If you ~, you make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it, or that you know something when you do not really know it.
Either side, or both, could be ~ing...
In each case the hijackers ~ed the crew using fake grenades...
VERB: V, V n