snipe hunt
verbEtymology * snipe + hunt * Although snipe are an actual family of birds, a snipe hunt was originally a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.
1
To participate, as the gullible victim, in a snipe hunt.
snipe hunt
nounUK, US /ˈsnaɪpˌhʌnt/
Etymology * snipe + hunt * Although snipe are an actual family of birds, a snipe hunt was originally a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.
1
Idiomatic A prank in which a gullible victim is sent off on a fruitless search for a nonexistent item.
- And you asked Charles Briggs for the name of the man who bought the secret, and he gives you a legend. A man who might not even exist. You know what, this is a snipe hunt.2012 December 13, “The Leviathan”, in Elementary, season 1, episode 10, spoken by Watson (Lucy Liu):