be sold a pup BrE old-fashioned
buy a pup BrE old-fashioned

We are being sold a pup by the wind power fanatics.

If the United States continues with unilateralism, we shall have been sold a pup.

I'm sorry, Guardian, but you've been sold a pup.

This whole coalition thing, we've just been sold a pup, time after time after time.

'I've been sold a pup and don't like it.

We've been sold a pup.

There is an understanding the Tories have let us down before and although we have our best negotiators involved, even they may not sense if we are being sold a pup."

I have thought very deeply on the matter and my conclusion is that we're being sold a pup in a power grab by vested interests more concerned for their own self-aggrandisement and enrichment than they are for the rest of us.

Women have been sold a pup, now they have to work in order that their family have a reasonable income and the worst aspect was that Maggie thatcher was largely voted into power simply because she would be the first woman to be prime minister.

Always request health exams and never buy a pup without a contract.

If so, we should be glad to buy a pup."

"I don't know, I think we would have to buy a pup and train it ourselves maybe, that might be fun."

I asked if I might buy a pup and a few days later he brought Scadoo to the thie-oast.

If Ingard had bought a pup, it seemed wholly improbable that any other shrewd financier would oblige by buying it from him.

Chiens de chasseare too specialized to be bought and sold across a counter, and we were told that no serious hunter would consider buying a pup without first meeting both parents.

Tomorrow, Marco thought as he headed down from his bedroom to get a fresh bottle of whisky, he'd talk to Todd again about buying a pup, using the security angle to get past Todd's loyalty to Dempsey.

If he has the time to train one, he will buy a pup cheap, run it for a season with one of his more capable trackers, and, if it turns into a reliable and accomplished trailer, sell or trade high.

The idioms pig in a poke and sell a pup (or buy a pup) refer to a confidence trick originating in the Late Middle Ages, when meat was scarce, but cats and dogs (puppies) were not.

Since the condition is to a large degree inherited, the hip scores of parents should be professionally checked before buying a pup, and the hip scores of dogs should be checked before relying upon them for breeding.