fish tale

plural fish tales

1. Synonym of fish story (“tall tale”).

   "Sure enough, she and Major Dewart came tromping in, with a fish tale about a flat tire."

   2022 December 27, Michelle Gable, The Lipstick Bureau: A Novel Inspired by a Real-Life Female Spy, Harlequin, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   He's a hunter, took a week off, all loaded down with guns and the like, and he refuses to tell even a "fish" tale about it. Mr. William Mills has returned to the place from whence he came. We are told he landed a berth with the[…]

   1920, The International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union Journal, page 20

   She felt in her heart that Gary was telling a fish tale about the finger marks, but then again, there was the possibility he was telling the truth. She finally decided that Christopher had been abused once or twice, but not on a[…]

   1998, Ann-Janine Morey, What Happened to Christopher: An American Family's Story of Shaken Baby Syndrome, SIU Press, →ISBN, page 39

   Synonyms: fish story