"pull a rabbit out of a hat" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to a popular conjuring trick.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pulls a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulling a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "pull a rabbit out of a hat"
      },
      "expansion": "pull a rabbit out of a hat (third-person singular simple present pulls a rabbit out of a hat, present participle pulling a rabbit out of a hat, simple past and past participle pulled a rabbit out of a hat)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "But Salmond the magician's dazzle has not pulled those crucial rabbits out of his hat. Not on tax and spending, on the currency union which he wants (but rUK does not), on Scotland's relations with an EU which does not want this aggro.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To do something surprising and beneficial that is unexpected."
      ],
      "id": "en-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat-en-verb-9PgTDE6h",
      "links": [
        [
          "surprising",
          "surprising"
        ],
        [
          "beneficial",
          "beneficial"
        ],
        [
          "unexpected",
          "unexpected"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To do something surprising and beneficial that is unexpected."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pull a rabbit from a hat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pull a rabbit out of a hat.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/10/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pull a rabbit out of a hat"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to a popular conjuring trick.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pulls a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulling a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled a rabbit out of a hat",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "pull a rabbit out of a hat"
      },
      "expansion": "pull a rabbit out of a hat (third-person singular simple present pulls a rabbit out of a hat, present participle pulling a rabbit out of a hat, simple past and past participle pulled a rabbit out of a hat)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "But Salmond the magician's dazzle has not pulled those crucial rabbits out of his hat. Not on tax and spending, on the currency union which he wants (but rUK does not), on Scotland's relations with an EU which does not want this aggro.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To do something surprising and beneficial that is unexpected."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surprising",
          "surprising"
        ],
        [
          "beneficial",
          "beneficial"
        ],
        [
          "unexpected",
          "unexpected"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To do something surprising and beneficial that is unexpected."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pull a rabbit out of a hat.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/10/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/En-au-pull_a_rabbit_out_of_a_hat.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "pull a rabbit from a hat"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pull a rabbit out of a hat"
}