pull a boner


Make a blunder, as in I pulled an awful boner when I mentioned his ex-wife. This expression is derived from the noun bonehead, for “blockhead” or “stupid person.” [Slang; early 1900s]

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