wag the dog

动词 v.
中文释义

英文释义

动词 v.
  1. To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation. idiomatic
  2. Used in a phrasal verb: the tail wags the dog: to control, as a minor part, a larger thing; to be the tail wagging the dog.

词形变化

wags the dog present,singular,third-person wagging the dog participle,present wagged the dog participle,past wagged the dog past

词源

From the tail wagging the dog / the tail wags the dog, first used in the 1858 play, Our American Cousin. The shortened form with the political sense was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997).
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