/ˈlaɪ θɹuː jɔː ˈtiːθ/
English idiom, informal. To lie shamelessly while knowing full well it isn’t true.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Lie through your teeth
?
Almost always in the continuous form and about someone else: “he’s lying through his teeth”, “she was lying through her teeth”. The possessive changes with the liar. It’s an accusation, so it’s strong in a face-to-face conversation.
Lie through your teeth
in real sentences
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He is lying through his teeth.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Don’t believe a word Tom says. He’s lying through his teeth.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Lie through your teeth
come from?
English Wiktionary defines it as telling an obvious untruth but gives no etymology or date, and none of the other sources checked here does either. An older relative is “lie in one’s throat”, which Wiktionary marks as obsolete and cites from Webster’s 1913 dictionary. None of them explains why it’s the teeth in particular.
Mistakes learners make with Lie through your teeth
Using “lay” for the past. “Lie” meaning “tell an untruth” goes lie, lied, lied, so it’s “he lied through his teeth”, never “he lay through his teeth”.
Other English idioms like Lie through your teeth
Spot a mistake in Lie through your teeth
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.