English Idiom – Call someone’s bluff.
To challenge someone to do what they are threatening to do, or to prove what they are saying, because you believe they are lying or exaggerating.
Someone tells you they are going to do something dramatic, but you are sure they don’t really mean it. What do you do? You call their bluff!
This idiom comes from the card game poker. In poker, bluffing means betting confidently on a weak hand so that the other players get scared and give up (fold). But if another player calls, which means matching the bet, the bluffer has to show their cards, and everyone can see the bluff.
The word bluff was used in American poker by 1839, and people were already using call someone’s bluff outside the card table by 1876. (Dictionary.com – Call someone’s bluff)
How to Use It
The idiom follows a simple pattern: call + my / your / his / her / our / their + bluff.
- I don’t think she’ll really leave. Let’s call her bluff.
- Go on, call my bluff. I’m serious this time!
- The company threatened to close the factory, but the workers called their bluff.
Note: we usually use it with threats and big claims. British readers of a certain age may also remember Call My Bluff, the BBC panel show (1965–2005) where teams gave three definitions of an unusual word and the other team had to spot the real one.
Calling someone’s bluff is much easier when they can’t keep a poker face! The two idioms are close cousins from the same card table: a poker face is about hiding your own feelings, while calling someone’s bluff is what you do when you think someone else is hiding the truth. And if the bluffer really does have a secret weapon, they’ve got an ace up their sleeve.
Example:
- “Tom threatened to quit over his pay, so his boss called his bluff and handed him a resignation letter.”
- “My brother said he could eat ten doughnuts in one go. I called his bluff and bought a box. He managed four.”
- “The shop said the price was final, but when I called their bluff and walked towards the door, they suddenly offered me 20% off.”
Learn More
Look it upBluff: word origin and history – Etymonlineetymonline.comWhat is an idiom?
An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally. An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means to challenge someone to do what they are threatening, or to prove what they claim, because you think they are lying or exaggerating.
It comes from poker. A player who bluffs bets big on a weak hand; if another player “calls” (matches the bet), the bluffer must show their cards. The phrase was being used outside poker by 1876.
Both are correct. The pattern is call + possessive + bluff, so you can say call my bluff, call his bluff, call their bluff, and so on. “Call someone’s bluff” is just the dictionary form.
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