put someone to their trumps

English

Verb

put someone to their trumps (third-person singular simple present puts someone to their trumps, present participle putting someone to their trumps, simple past and past participle put someone to their trumps)

1. (archaic, idiomatic) To put someone in a difficult situation.
   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, chapter VI, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 57:

     But when Kings come ſo low, as to fawn upon Philoſophie, which before they neither vau'd nor underſtood, tis a ſigne that failes not, they are then put to their laſt Trump.

   • 1821 July 5, Bernard Peyton, letter to Thomas Jefferson‎^[1]:

     I am still without any blanks from you, or notes, to renew yours at the different Banks in this City, I to day was put to my trumps completely as to the $4,000 at the Farmers Bank, the directors not being willing to take any other note but yours for its renewal, as it would relieve the security you have given me as an endorser on it;

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “A Hunting Dinner”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 12:

     The only question was, whether such an unexpected accession of company, to an already crowded house, would not put the housekeeper to her trumps to accommodate them.

References

• “trump”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “trump²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present