yank someone's chain
yank someone's chain verb: to tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting.
Verb
yank someone's chain (third-person singular simple present yanks someone's chain, present participle yanking someone's chain, simple past and past participle yanked someone's chain)
- To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting.
- Near-synonyms: poke, prod
- So, be careful what you are paying attention to. If it looks like someone is yanking your chain, he or she probably is.2006, James A. McKenna, Beyond Bluffs: Master the Mysteries of Poker, →ISBN, page 198
- Synonyms:
- pull someone's leg, poke, prod
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see yank, chain.
Synonyms of yank someone's chain
Forms of yank someone's chain
| third-person singular present | yanks someone's chain |
|---|---|
| present participle | yanking someone's chain |
| past participle | yanked someone's chain |
| past | yanked someone's chain |
| alternative form | jerk someone's chain |
| alternative form | pull someone's chain |
Questions about yank someone's chain
- What does yank someone's chain mean?
- Yank someone's chain means to tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting.
- What part of speech is yank someone's chain?
- Yank someone's chain is a verb.
- What is the past tense of yank someone's chain?
- The past tense of yank someone's chain is yanked someone's chain.
Words near yank someone's chain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yank someone's chain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-yank someone's chain.ogg.
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