| a story or statement, esp. an untrue or misleading one designed to evade the matter at hand: Every time he's late, he gives me a song and dance about oversleeping. |
| song and dance n. pl. song and dances or songs and dances
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song and dance
An elaborate story or effort to explain and justify something, or to deceive and mislead someone. For example, Do you really believe his song and dance about the alarm not going off, being stopped for speeding, and then the car breaking down? or At every annual meeting the chairman goes through the same song and dance about the company's great future plans. This term originally referred to a vaudeville act featuring song and dance. [Late 1800s]