buy the rabbit

buy the rabbit

English

Etymology

According to Hotten: from an old story about a man selling a cat to a foreigner as a rabbit.

Verb

buy the rabbit (third-person singular simple present buys the rabbit, present participle buying the rabbit, simple past and past participle bought the rabbit)

1. (Britain, slang, archaic) To get the worst of a bargain.
   • 1895, Horace White, Money and Banking (page 253)

     This is ruffian-like, by superiority of numbers to endeavor to make honest people buy the rabbit.

References

• 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary