pull out of a hat

pull out of a hat
   to produce irresponsibly
   As the conjurer produces the rabbit:
    The Veterinary journal said he 'pulled figures out of a hat to fit his arguments'. (Private Eye, May 1981)
   Pull out of the air has the same meaning.

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • pull out of a hat — {v. phr.}, {informal} To get as if by magic; invent; imagine. * /When the introduction to a dictionary tells you how many hours went into its making, these figures were not pulled out of a hat./ * /Let s see you pull an excuse out of your hat./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • pull out of a hat — {v. phr.}, {informal} To get as if by magic; invent; imagine. * /When the introduction to a dictionary tells you how many hours went into its making, these figures were not pulled out of a hat./ * /Let s see you pull an excuse out of your hat./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • pull\ out\ of\ a\ hat — v. phr. informal To get as if by magic; invent; imagine. When the introduction to a dictionary tells you how many hours went into its making, these figures were not pulled out of a hat. Let s see you pull an excuse out of your hat …   Словарь американских идиом

  • pull out of the hat — verb To select at random, or seemingly at random. Syn: pull out of the bag …   Wiktionary

  • pull out of a hat — get as if by magic, invent, imagine I didn t think that he was going to be able to find a dictionary but he suddenly pulled one out of a hat and gave it to me …   Idioms and examples

  • pull a rabbit out of the hat — pull sth/a rabbit out of the hat INFORMAL ► to do something unexpected that improves a difficult situation: »If they want to survive the crisis, they ll need to pull something out of the hat pretty quickly. »The company s in real trouble, and… …   Financial and business terms

  • pull sth out of the hat — pull sth/a rabbit out of the hat INFORMAL ► to do something unexpected that improves a difficult situation: »If they want to survive the crisis, they ll need to pull something out of the hat pretty quickly. »The company s in real trouble, and… …   Financial and business terms

  • pull sth/a rabbit out of the hat — INFORMAL ► to do something unexpected that improves a difficult situation: »If they want to survive the crisis, they ll need to pull something out of the hat pretty quickly. »The company s in real trouble, and they don t seem to have any rabbits… …   Financial and business terms

  • pull a rabbit out of your hat — pull a rabbit out of (your) hat to do something surprising. You didn t know how the story would end and then the author pulled a rabbit out of her hat, and it all made sense. Usage notes: sometimes used to describe a surprising solution to a… …   New idioms dictionary

  • pull a rabbit out of the hat — pull a rabbit out of the (or a) hat used to describe an action that is fortuitous, and may involve sleight of hand or deception a rabbit has been pulled out of the political hat * * * pull sth/a ˌrabbit out of the ˈhat idiom (informal) to… …   Useful english dictionary

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