bluff out

English

WOTD – 21 July 2018

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈblʌf aʊt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊt

Verb

bluff out (third-person singular simple present bluffs out, present participle bluffing out, simple past and past participle bluffed out)

1. (transitive) To deceive (someone) in order to convince them to give up.
   • 1856, C[aroline] A. Hayden, chapter X, in Carrie Emerson; or, Life at Cliftonville, 2nd edition, Boston, Mass.: James French and Company, →OCLC, page 117:

     He really thought, however, he had heard Col. Macy speak in high terms of young Mr. Ashley as a favored suitor; and Miss Adelaide always seemed pleased with his attentions; he wouldn't be bluffed out of that, any way.

   • 1870 July, “Advice to People about to Speculate in Wall Street”, in William B. Dana, editor, The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, volume 63, New York, N.Y.: William B. Dana, […], →OCLC, pages 34–35:

     There are games of cards known as "bluff" and "poker," played by the most rash and reckless gamblers, in which a player loses all his stake unless he can keep on increasing it as fast as his adversaries; and many a luckless wight has been "bluffed" out of his savings on the Stock Exchange in the same way, although his bet was really made on a winning hand.

   • 1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, →OCLC, chapter II, page 91, column 2:

     The older man eyed him for a moment balefully. "I'm goin' to set 'em again," he replied, "and don't you touch 'em. I'm goin' to trap where I durn please. There's two of you, but you don't bluff me out, not any."

   • 1998 August, Mason Malmuth, “A Little More Sophistication”, in Winning Concepts in Draw and Lowball, 2nd edition, Las Vegas, Nev.: Two Plus Two Publishing, →ISBN, part 8 (Psychology), page 157:

     The more sophisticated player has recently won a pot by drawing one card to a pair of face cards and then bluffing out his opposition.

   • 2016, Sumit Sarkar, “Business Poker: Playing Games with Limited Information”, in Out-think!: How to Use Game Theory to Outsmart Your Competition, New Delhi: SAGE Response; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 146:

     Consistent predatory pricing makes the potential entrants believe that the predator is a low-cost firm. At least, they revise their beliefs and presume that the probability of the predator being a low-cost firm is very high. In this case, if the predator is not a low-cost firm, it successfully bluffs out the potential entrants through false signalling.

Related terms

• bluff
• bluffer
• bluffing (noun)

Translations

to deceive in order to convince someone to give up

Further reading

• “bluff out”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• outbluff