Meanings
plural aces up one's sleeve
- idiomaticA surprise advantage of which others are not aware.
SCP-7450 is an apocalyptic scenario where the Foundation has to resort to an ace up their sleeves and belief in a higher power solves the problem, but not in the way anyone would expect.
2023 October 14, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-7450 - L is for Lamentations” (0:49 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the original on 14 Oct 2023Synonyms: ace in the hole, trick up one's sleeve
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA surprise advantage of which others are not aware.
Origin
From the dishonest hiding of a high-value ace card for use during play, e.g. in the game of poker.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 秘密王牌
- 秘密王牌a surprise of which others are not aware
Chinese Mandarin 秘密王牌
- 秘密王牌 (mìmì wángpái)a surprise of which others are not aware
Czech Eso v rukávu
- Eso v rukávua surprise of which others are not aware
Estonian Trump tagataskust
- Trump tagataskusta surprise of which others are not aware
Finnish ässä hihassa
- ässä hihassaa surprise of which others are not aware
French joker, as dans la manche
- jokera surprise of which others are not aware
- as dans la manchea surprise of which others are not aware
- atout dans la manchea surprise of which others are not aware
- avoir un atout dans sa manchea surprise of which others are not aware
- garder un atout dans sa manchea surprise of which others are not aware
German Ass im Ärmel, Trumpf im Ärmel
- Ass im Ärmela surprise of which others are not aware
- Trumpf im Ärmela surprise of which others are not aware
Italian asso nella manica
- asso nella manicaa surprise of which others are not aware
Japanese 切り札, 奥の手
- 切り札 (kirifuda)a surprise of which others are not aware
- 奥の手 (okunote)a surprise of which others are not aware
Norwegian ess i ermet
- ess i ermeta surprise of which others are not aware
Polish as w rękawie
- as w rękawiea surprise of which others are not aware
Portuguese carta nas mangas, ás na manga
- carta nas mangasa surprise of which others are not aware
- ás na mangaa surprise of which others are not aware
Russian козырь, туз в рукаве́
- козырь (kozyrʹ)a surprise of which others are not aware
- туз в рукаве́ (tuz v rukavé)a surprise of which others are not aware
- козы́рна́я ка́рта (kozýrnája kárta)a surprise of which others are not aware
Spanish as en la manga, as bajo la manga
- as en la mangaa surprise of which others are not aware
- as bajo la mangaa surprise of which others are not aware
Swedish äss i rockärmen
- äss i rockärmena surprise of which others are not aware
Cite this entry
ace up one's sleeve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ace%20up%20one's%20sleeve
“ace up one's sleeve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ace%20up%20one's%20sleeve. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ace up one's sleeve,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ace%20up%20one's%20sleeve.
Source: ace up one's sleeve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.