smoke out

smoke out idiom
Expose, reveal, bring to public view, as in Reporters thrive on smoking out a scandal. This expression alludes to driving a person or animal out of a hiding place by filling it with smoke. [Late 1500s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.