Meaning
To challenge someone to prove they can do what they are threatening - to demand they show their cards. Calling a bluff accepts the risk that it was never a bluff at all, which is what gives the phrase its drama. The object is usually possessive (call his bluff); 'call the bluff' works when the bluff itself, not the bluffer, is the subject. Regional use: General English (American origin).
Origin
From poker, where bluffing that one holds better cards than one's opponents is intrinsic to the game, and calling the bluff means forcing the bluffer to show their hand - the bet matched, the moment of truth. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms traces the transfer to the late 1800s, and the Dictionary of Clichés is more precise: the term is American, dates with American poker from the early 1800s, and was being carried into other pursuits by the late nineteenth century - 'Where shall we be when that bluff is called', reads its citation from the Congressional Record of March 1896. Reference dictionaries add a wrinkle: the game itself was formerly also known by the name of bluff, which is how deep the word and the game are entangled. Modern usage has generalized completely - creditors call debtors' bluffs, unions call ministers' - but the poker mechanics survive in the phrase's grammar: you call the bluff, and somebody has to turn over cards.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- call the bluff
- call their bluff
- called someone's bluff
Usage Examples
- For two years the supplier threatened arbitration; the council finally called its bluff and the arbitration never came.
- She called his bluff about resigning by wishing him well, and he stayed.
- Calling the union's bluff cost the minister the shuttle service, but the strike ended that night.