false alarm n.1
1. (also false fire) something or someone that does not live up to expectations.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | diary 20 Mar. pub. as Gavels & Guns (2016) 173: Tom Cordis is hot, he says that Drake and Mansfield are both false fires and stinkers. | |
| More Fables in Sl. 170: [title] The Fable of Lutie, the False Alarm, and How She Finished about the Time that she Started. | |
| Torchy 120: I’m what you would call a false alarm, Torchy. I’ve been tried out and haven’t made good. | |
| ‘No Business’ in Taking the Count 155: Tierney says Callahan is a false alarm, and that the first fairly good boy he meets will lick him in a round. | |
| ‘The Dizzy Dumb-Bell’ in Top Notch 1 Aug. 🌐 You said then that he was a case for the fire department—a false alarm. | |
 | ‘Boob McNut — The Meaning of Jazz’ in http://tijuanabibles.org 🌐 That’s a fine false alarm — taking me out to the shag picnic and not jazzing me. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Shearer’s Colt 179: ‘Searchlight’ of the Racing Omniscient said that the horse was a false alarm and couldn’t beat a carpet. | |
| ‘There’s Hicks In All Trades’ in All Sports Feb. 🌐 Fire—hell! It was just another false alarm—like Blood Thirsty McGaff. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
2. a braggart, a boaster.
| Virginian 5: Schucks! You’re a false alarm. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 25 May 6/1: He’s [a boxer] a false alarm all right, and if he has the ill-luck to meet Mike Williams he’ll wish he'd never ventured. | |
| Bucky O’Connor (1910) 46: That coyote won’t pester you any more. Will you, Mr. False Alarm Bad Man? | |
| in Day Book (Chicago) 5 Apr. 25/2: You bull-necked, beetle-browed, hog-jowled, peanut-brained, weasel-eyed, four-flushers, false alarms and excess baggage! | |
| Appleton Post-Crescent (WI) 3 May 7/4: Flapper Dictionary false alarm – A girl who trys to be a Scandal Walker. | |
| Pleasure Man (1997) II ii: I know you’re nothing but a false alarm. | |
| ‘Texas Fists’ Fight Stories May 🌐 How about it, amigo? Will you mosey back up in the hills with us and flatten this big false alarm? | |
| et al. DAUL 67/2: False alarm. Any insincere or disloyal person. |