When someone pretends to be about to do something, and another person challenges them to actually do it.
Originally from poker, when someone acts like they have good cards and their opponent makes them prove it.
The aim of a
bluff is to scare or
intimidate someone. The use in poker is so that an opponent will quit the round.
He said he was about to leave her forever, in an effort to make her jealous, but she called his
bluff and made him leave.
I've always wanted to
call a bluff, and I got my chance when the student told me his dog had died. His mother said they had never owned
an animal.