English Idiom – An ace up your sleeve.
A secret advantage or hidden plan that other people don’t know about, which you are saving until the right moment.
Everyone thinks they know how things will end, but you are hiding a secret that could change everything. You’ve got an ace up your sleeve!
In many card games, the ace is the most powerful card. Dishonest players used to hide an extra ace in their sleeve, ready to slip it into their hand when they needed to win. People were writing about this kind of card cheating by the 1840s, and by 1863 a card (or ace) up one’s sleeve was being used to mean a hidden resource. The shorter phrase have something up your sleeve is even older, from around 1500.
Note: today the idiom is usually positive. It’s about being clever and prepared, not about cheating!
How to Use It
We usually say have (got) an ace up your sleeve, and change the possessive: my / your / his / her / our / their.
- Don’t worry, I’ve got an ace up my sleeve.
- The coach always keeps an ace up his sleeve for the second half.
- They look confident. I think they still have an ace up their sleeve.
Similar phrases:
- have something up your sleeve – “You’re smiling. What have you got up your sleeve?” (what are you secretly planning?)
- have a trick up your sleeve – a clever plan or idea ready to use
- an ace in the hole – the same meaning, more common in American English. It comes from stud poker, where a hidden face-down card is called the “hole card”.
A player with an ace up their sleeve needs a very good poker face to keep it hidden. And if the other players get suspicious, they might just call their bluff!
More idioms from the poker table: Poker Face, Call Someone’s Bluff and Pass the Buck.
Example:
- “Sam wasn’t nervous about the job interview. He had an ace up his sleeve: a glowing reference from the CEO.”
- “We were losing at half-time, but the coach still had an ace up his sleeve. Our best striker was waiting on the bench.”
- “The landlord wanted to raise our rent, but we had an ace up our sleeve. A cheaper flat had just come up next door.”
Learn More
Look it upSleeve: word origin and history – Etymonlineetymonline.comWhat is an idiom?
An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally. An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means you have a secret advantage or hidden plan that other people don’t know about, and you are saving it until the right moment.
It comes from card cheats who hid an extra ace, often the strongest card, in their sleeve to use when they needed it. The figurative meaning, “a hidden resource”, was in use by 1863.
They mean the same thing: a hidden advantage. “An ace in the hole” is more common in American English and comes from stud poker, where a face-down “hole card” is hidden from the other players.
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