"dog and pony show" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dog and pony shows",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dog and pony show (plural dog and pony shows)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A small traveling circus featuring animals as entertainment."
      ],
      "id": "en-dog_and_pony_show-en-noun-legdbaLe",
      "links": [
        [
          "circus",
          "circus"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) A small traveling circus featuring animals as entertainment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They put on a whole dog and pony show for the investors, but I'm not sure they've convinced anyone."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 January 8, Elizabeth Popp Berman, Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine, Princeton University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 119",
          "text": "Here, the academics put on a bit of a dog-and-pony show, demonstrating their latest breakthroughs and giving sponsors a chance to meet students who are about to receive their PhDs and start looking for jobs.[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any presentation or display that is overly contrived or intricate, while lacking real substance."
      ],
      "id": "en-dog_and_pony_show-en-noun-yGwWiCuP",
      "links": [
        [
          "presentation",
          "presentation"
        ],
        [
          "display",
          "display"
        ],
        [
          "contrived",
          "contrived"
        ],
        [
          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Any presentation or display that is overly contrived or intricate, while lacking real substance."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "dog-and-pony show"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dog and pony show.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dog and pony show"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dog and pony shows",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dog and pony show (plural dog and pony shows)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small traveling circus featuring animals as entertainment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "circus",
          "circus"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) A small traveling circus featuring animals as entertainment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They put on a whole dog and pony show for the investors, but I'm not sure they've convinced anyone."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 January 8, Elizabeth Popp Berman, Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine, Princeton University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 119",
          "text": "Here, the academics put on a bit of a dog-and-pony show, demonstrating their latest breakthroughs and giving sponsors a chance to meet students who are about to receive their PhDs and start looking for jobs.[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any presentation or display that is overly contrived or intricate, while lacking real substance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "presentation",
          "presentation"
        ],
        [
          "display",
          "display"
        ],
        [
          "contrived",
          "contrived"
        ],
        [
          "intricate",
          "intricate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Any presentation or display that is overly contrived or intricate, while lacking real substance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dog and pony show.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/En-au-dog_and_pony_show.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "dog-and-pony show"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dog and pony show"
}