drawing the long bow

Verb

draw the long bow (third-person singular simple present draws the long bow, present participle drawing the long bow, simple past drew the long bow, past participle drawn the long bow)

1. (idiomatic) To exaggerate; to tell tall tales.
   • […] Dublin residents, like those jarvies waiting news from abroad, would tempt any ancient mariner who sailed the ocean seas to draw the long bow about the schooner Hesperus and etcetera.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 16

   Synonyms:

   draw a long bow, pull the long bow, throw the hatchet