Meaning
To have a secret plan, idea or advantage held in reserve, ready to be produced if needed. The hidden thing can be concrete ('a surprise up her sleeve') or abstract, and the phrase usually implies deliberate, strategic concealment rather than mere luck. Neutral to admiring of cunning; it hints at gamesmanship but rarely at outright cheating. Regional use: General English (clothing origin).
Origin
Two related strands lie behind it. First, in the sixteenth century, when clothes rarely included pockets, people genuinely kept money, handkerchiefs and other small valuables in their sleeves. Second, in the era of long, loose sleeves a dishonest card player could hide a winning card, typically an ace, up a sleeve and slip it into play later, which kept the sleeve associated with concealed advantage; magicians later exploited the same association with the showman's 'nothing up my sleeve'. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms dates the figurative expression to the mid-1800s. The general form 'have something up one's sleeve' grew out of the narrower 'have a card, or an ace, up one's sleeve', and the card imagery is still visible in the commonest variants.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- have a card up one's sleeve
- have a trick up one's sleeve
- have an ace up one's sleeve
- nothing up my sleeve
Usage Examples
- The coach clearly had something up his sleeve, saving his fastest runner for the final relay.
- Don't panic about the demo failing; I have a backup plan up my sleeve.
- The company still has a few product ideas up its sleeve for next year's launch.