call (someone's) bluff
To challenge another with a display of strength or confidence
call somebody's bluff
to tell someone to do what they have threatened because you do not believe that they will really do it
call someone's bluff
to make someone prove that what they are saying is true, or to make someone prove that they will really do what they say they will do, because you do not believe them

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

call bluff
call (someone's) bluff
to make someone prove that what they are saying is true, or to make someone prove that they will really do what they say they will do, because you do not believe them.
Alice called his bluff and dared him to tell everyone what he knew about her.

call (your) bluff
to make someone do what they said they will do.
He said he would help, and now his opponents have called his bluff and asked him to provide the funds.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of calling a bluff in a card game (= forcing someone to show the cards they hold)

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

call bluff
challenge someone to show that they are not being deceptive and can actually do what they say they can do (from poker where one makes an opponent show his or her cards to show that they are weaker than they are pretending them to be); to challenge someone to prove that what they are saying is true; to try to make someone prove that they can actually do what they say they can
My girlfriend always said that she didn't want to get married so I called her bluff and asked her to marry me. She said yes.

I decided to call the man's bluff and I asked him to show me the evidence.

The government called the union's bluff when the union threatened to go on strike.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

call someone's bluff
call (someone's) bluff
to make someone prove that what they are saying is true, or to make someone prove that they will really do what they say they will do, because you do not believe them.
Alice called his bluff and dared him to tell everyone what he knew about her.

call (your) bluff
to make someone do what they said they will do.
He said he would help, and now his opponents have called his bluff and asked him to provide the funds.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of calling a bluff in a card game (= forcing someone to show the cards they hold)

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

call someone's bluff
challenge someone to show that they are not being deceptive and can actually do what they say they can do (from poker where one makes an opponent show his or her cards to show that they are weaker than they are pretending them to be); to challenge someone to prove that what they are saying is true; to try to make someone prove that they can actually do what they say they can
My girlfriend always said that she didn't want to get married so I called her bluff and asked her to marry me. She said yes.

I decided to call the man's bluff and I asked him to show me the evidence.

The government called the union's bluff when the union threatened to go on strike.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

call one's bluff
v. phr., informal To ask someone to prove what he says he can or will do. (Originally from the card game of poker.)
Tom said he could jump twenty feet and so Dick called his bluff and said "Let's see you do it!"

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲