put one's cards on the table

present singular third person puts one's cards on the table · participle present putting one's cards on the table · alternative lay one's cards on the table · alternative place one's cards on the table · alternative put it all on the table · alternative put it on the table

1. idiomaticTo reveal one's true intentions, beliefs, feelings, or other previously concealed facts about one's situation; to speak frankly.

   "Let's put our cards on the table. We think you're the man the police are looking for—the one described in the papers."

   1921, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 10, in Tangled Trails

   3 more examples

   "We needn't either of us," she continued, "be concerned for the other's reasons, though I'm perfectly ready, I assure you, to put my cards on the table."

   1899, Henry James, chapter 4, in The Awkward Age

   I thought the time had come for me to put my cards on the table. I saw by this man's eye that he was the kind you can trust.

   1915, John Buchan, chapter 4, in The Thirty-Nine Steps

   Although Sharon has never put all his cards on the table, he's given plenty of indicators that in his vision, a Palestinian state comprises the 40-50 percent of the West Bank currently under PA jurisdiction.

   2003 May 27, Tony Karon, “Mideast: Can Bush Deliver?”, in Time

   Synonyms: show one's cards, show one's hand