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play fast and loose

  1. To behave dishonorably; to make a promise and fail to deliver on it: “It sounds like a good deal, but I hope that real estate agent isn't just playing fast and loose with me.”


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Idioms and Phrases

Be recklessly irresponsible, unreliable, or deceitful, as in This reporter is known for playing fast and loose with the facts . This term probably originated in a 16th-century game called “fast and loose,” played at country fairs. A belt was doubled and held with the loop at table's edge, and the player had to catch the loop with a stick as the belt was unrolled—an impossible feat. The term was already used figuratively by the late 1500s, especially for trifling with someone's affections.
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Example Sentences

You cannot be permitted to play fast-and-loose with a gentleman of M. le Marquis' quality!

It is an uncommon character that can play fast-and-loose with itself in this manner.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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