"tell it to the marines" meaning in English

See tell it to the marines in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Audio: en-au-tell it to the marines.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: Unknown, with many apocryphal suggestions. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|head=tell it to the marines}} tell it to the marines
  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) I do not believe what you said. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Synonyms: tell it to Sweeney [idiomatic], tell it to the judge, bullshit Related terms: horse marine, pull the other one, it's got bells on Translations (expression of disbelief): 鬼才信呢 (Chinese Mandarin), maak dat de kat wijs (Dutch), puhu pukille (Finnish), cóntalle iso á túa avoa (Galician), a outro can con ese óso (Galician), hiszi a piszi (Hungarian), raccontalo a qualcun altro (Italian), dillo a qualcun altro (Italian), den må du lenger ut på landet med (Norwegian Bokmål), расскажи́ э́то свое́й ба́бушке (rasskaží éto svojéj bábuške) (Russian), расскажи́ э́то кому́-нибу́дь друго́му (rasskaží éto komú-nibúdʹ drugómu) (Russian), ври́ бо́льше (vrí bólʹše) (Russian), a otro perro con ese hueso (Spanish), külahıma anlat (Turkish), nói cho ma nó nghe (Vietnamese)

Download JSON data for tell it to the marines meaning in English (4.1kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
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        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown, with many apocryphal suggestions.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "tell it to the marines"
      },
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      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1829, Douglas Jerrold, Act I, Scene ?",
          "text": "William. No palaver! tell it to the marines. What, tacking and double tacking! Come to what you want to say at once.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1868 February, Caroline M. Sawyer, “The Jester of Durano; Or, The Times of Old”, in The Ladies’ Repository, a Universalist Monthly Magazine for the Home Circle, volume XXXIX, Boston, Mass.: The Universalist Publishing House, page 128",
          "text": "I don’t believe the story you have been telling me, either, and think it far more likely that you are hiding from justice on account of some devil’s work you have been engaged in. Bah! Tell your story to the marines!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "I do not believe what you said."
      ],
      "id": "en-tell_it_to_the_marines-en-phrase-xwQ2hpJK",
      "links": [
        [
          "believe",
          "believe"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) I do not believe what you said."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "horse marine"
        },
        {
          "word": "pull the other one, it's got bells on"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic"
          ],
          "word": "tell it to Sweeney"
        },
        {
          "word": "tell it to the judge"
        },
        {
          "word": "bullshit"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "鬼才信呢"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "maak dat de kat wijs"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "puhu pukille"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "cóntalle iso á túa avoa"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "a outro can con ese óso"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "hiszi a piszi"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "raccontalo a qualcun altro"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "dillo a qualcun altro"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "den må du lenger ut på landet med"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "rasskaží éto svojéj bábuške",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "расскажи́ э́то свое́й ба́бушке"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "rasskaží éto komú-nibúdʹ drugómu",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "расскажи́ э́то кому́-нибу́дь друго́му"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vrí bólʹše",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "ври́ бо́льше"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "a otro perro con ese hueso"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "külahıma anlat"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "expression of disbelief",
          "word": "nói cho ma nó nghe"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "audio": "en-au-tell it to the marines.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b1/En-au-tell_it_to_the_marines.ogg/En-au-tell_it_to_the_marines.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/En-au-tell_it_to_the_marines.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell it to the marines"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
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  "etymology_text": "Unknown, with many apocryphal suggestions.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "tell it to the marines"
      },
      "expansion": "tell it to the marines",
      "name": "head"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "horse marine"
    },
    {
      "word": "pull the other one, it's got bells on"
    }
  ],
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        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English sentences",
        "English terms with audio links",
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with unknown etymologies"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1829, Douglas Jerrold, Act I, Scene ?",
          "text": "William. No palaver! tell it to the marines. What, tacking and double tacking! Come to what you want to say at once.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1868 February, Caroline M. Sawyer, “The Jester of Durano; Or, The Times of Old”, in The Ladies’ Repository, a Universalist Monthly Magazine for the Home Circle, volume XXXIX, Boston, Mass.: The Universalist Publishing House, page 128",
          "text": "I don’t believe the story you have been telling me, either, and think it far more likely that you are hiding from justice on account of some devil’s work you have been engaged in. Bah! Tell your story to the marines!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "I do not believe what you said."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "believe",
          "believe"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial) I do not believe what you said."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-tell it to the marines.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/En-au-tell_it_to_the_marines.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "word": "tell it to Sweeney"
    },
    {
      "word": "tell it to the judge"
    },
    {
      "word": "bullshit"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "鬼才信呢"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "maak dat de kat wijs"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "puhu pukille"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "cóntalle iso á túa avoa"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "a outro can con ese óso"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "hiszi a piszi"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "raccontalo a qualcun altro"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "dillo a qualcun altro"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "den må du lenger ut på landet med"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "rasskaží éto svojéj bábuške",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "расскажи́ э́то свое́й ба́бушке"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "rasskaží éto komú-nibúdʹ drugómu",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "расскажи́ э́то кому́-нибу́дь друго́му"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vrí bólʹše",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "ври́ бо́льше"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "a otro perro con ese hueso"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "külahıma anlat"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "expression of disbelief",
      "word": "nói cho ma nó nghe"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tell it to the marines"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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