chest one's cards
English
editVerb
editchest one's cards (third-person singular simple present chests one's cards, present participle chesting one's cards, simple past and past participle chested one's cards)
- (card games) To hold one's hand close to one's chest so that other players cannot see the cards.
- 1930, Lowry Charles Wimberly, Prairie Schooner - Volumes 4-5, page 231:
- Another hand was dealt. Skookum chested his cards, looked down into them with one bright eye. The game went on.
- 1969, Conde nast publications, Vogue's book of etiquette and good manners, page 71:
- The request, "Chest your cards, please," or an equivalent, should be obeyed promptly.
- 2003, Jake Austen, A Friendly Game of Poker: 52 Takes on the Neighborhood Game, →ISBN:
- Mark also loved to gamble, and wanted nothing more than to elope to Vegas. I did not. He found someone who did. There was one other thing I learned — I learned to chest my cards, because I was famous for flashing.
- Synonym of keep one's cards close to one's chest
- 1994, Kent Spriggs, Representing plaintiffs in Title VII actions - Volume 1, page 421:
- As is now obvious, the element that is different from other discovery techniques discussed above is that the defendant is actually at risk: if it continues "chesting its cards," it may pay the price of being found liable, at least in part.
- 2013, Michael Wheeler, The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World, →ISBN:
- The hardball line tells you to chest your cards (and maybe slip a couple up your sleeve).
- 2018, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, E. Gordon Gee, Leading Colleges and Universities: Lessons from Higher Education Leaders, →ISBN:
- So their response to the “chest your cards” strategy is to ask even more questions, which, given an uninformed and suspicious board, may lead to even greater meddling.