über den Löffel barbieren

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From barbieren in the sense of “to rip off, defraud”, as also in scheren, English shave.

The phrase über den Löffel (over the spoon) refers to a traditional barber's technique where the shaving of a person with sunken cheeks would be facilitated by pushing them out with a spoon. In the present idiom, the phrase typically merely serves to intensify the meaning of the verb without any direct semantic relation.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Verb

über den Löffel barbieren (weak, third-person singular present barbiert über den Löffel, past tense barbierte über den Löffel, past participle über den Löffel barbiert, auxiliary haben)

  1. (idiomatic, dated) pull a fast one [+accusative]

Conjugation

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