Deception

blow the whistle on sb/sth : to bring something to the attention of other people in order to stop something

bad from happening

- The company stopped using certain chemicals only after some workers blow the whistle on it.

cover your tracks : to hide or destroy the things that show where you have been or what you have been doing

- Roberts covered his tracks by throwing the knife in the river.

economical with the truth : avoiding stating the true facts about a situation, or lying about it

- When they insisted that no changes had been made to the original plan, his team was being economical

with the truth.

give the game away : to spoil a surprise or a joke by telling someone something that should have been kept

secret

- It’s a secret, so don’t give the game away, will you?

go behind your back : to do something secretly or without your permission

- Do you think I would not know if you went behind my back?

go through the motions : to do something without thinking it is very important or having much interest in it

- Alex didn’t really care about his job anymore, he was just going through the motions.

a hidden agenda : a secret reason for doing something

- The prime minister denied that the new visa requirements were part of a hidden agenda to reduce

immigration.

keep sth under your head : to keep something secret

- Keep it under your hat, but I’m getting married next week.

lead sb up the garden path : to deceive someone

- It seems as if we’ve been led up the garden path about the position of our hotel – it’s miles from the beach.

lie through your teeth : to tell someone something that you know is completely false

- He asked us how old I was, lying through my teeth, I said 29.

on the fiddle : involved in dishonest behavior, usually to get money

- A postman earning $136 a week drove around in Porsche for six months before his bosses realized he was

on the fiddle.

sweep sth under the carpet : to hide a problem or try to keep it secret instead of dealing with it

- The committee is being accused of sweeping financial problems under the carpet to avoid embarrassment.

white lie : a lie that is told in order to be polite or to stop someone from being upset by the truth

- I said she looked nice, thinking it kinder to tell a white lie.