lóvá tesz

Hungarian

Etymology

ló (“horse”) +‎ -vá (“into”) + tesz (“to make, to turn into”). The expression is connected to witchcraft. Long ago, popular superstition held that witches could not only ride broomsticks or fireplace pokers, but they could also turn their victims into horses and fly on them to their orgies. People thought that those who were turned into horses, were also tortured. Later, the meaning of "to torture" was replaced by "to trifle with", "to toy with", finally into the current "to deceive".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈloːvaːtɛs]

Verb

lóvá tesz

1. (idiomatic, informal) to deceive someone, to make a fool of, to trick someone, to bamboozle, to take for a ride, to lead someone down the garden path

   Synonyms: átver, becsap, bepaliz, beugrat, bolonddá tesz, csőbe húz, felültet, rászed

Conjugation

• For the verb, see tesz.
• The inflected noun lóvá remains unchanged.