smokescreen
nounUS /ˈsmoʊkˌskɹin/
Etymology From smoke + screen.
1
Smoke used as a disguise, mask or cover, as of troops in battle.
- Ensign Whitely began to tell of the surprise encounter of Admiral Sprague’s escort-carrier force with the main battle line of the Japanese Navy off Samar, in a chaos of rain squalls and smoke screens.1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Chapter 25, Part 5, p. 284:
- C.I.E. Class "D14" 4-4-0 No. 89 covers its tracks with a magnificent smokescreen as it pulls out of Dun Laoghaire with the 9.0 a.m. boat train for Dublin.1959 September, “Talking of Trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 401, photo caption:
1 more example
- However, before most of this was experimentally and observationally discovered, they were perhaps best known for their “almost unique” ability to squirt ink when harangued, creating a smokescreen before jetting off to safety.2017 August 9, Mark Carnall, “Why do cephalopods produce ink? And what's ink made of, anyway?”, in The Guardian:
2
Figuratively Anything used metaphorically to conceal or distract.
- All that talk is just a smokescreen to disguise the fact that he has nothing to say.
- It was all very plausible and, as he poured out his smokescreen of words, I became fidgety for fear Fallon would be too direct with him.1968, Desmond Bagley, chapter 8, in The Vivero Letter, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 163:
- Related terms
- smoke test