"hold the cards" meaning in All languages combined

See hold the cards on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: en-au-hold the cards.ogg Forms: holds the cards [present, singular, third-person], holding the cards [participle, present], held the cards [participle, past], held the cards [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|hold<,,held> the cards}} hold the cards (third-person singular simple present holds the cards, present participle holding the cards, simple past and past participle held the cards)
  1. (idiomatic) To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: hold all the aces, hold all the cards Related terms: the upper hand, whip hand Translations (To be in a strong position): alle troeven in handen hebben (Dutch), hallita tilannetta (Finnish), avoir les cartes en main (French), avere il coltello dalla parte del manico (Italian), mieć przewagę [imperfective] (Polish), tener la sartén por el mango (Spanish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holds the cards",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holding the cards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the cards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held the cards",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
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        "1": "hold<,,held> the cards"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1907, R. Austin Freeman, chapter 14, in The Red Thumb Mark:",
          "text": "\"[B]ut if you make conditions I have no choice but to accept them, seeing that you hold the cards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986 August 17, Peter H. Lewis, “Practical Traveller: Learning the ABC's — as well as the XYZ's — of Flying”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-01-12:",
          "text": "Once a ticket is paid for and the airline has your money, it holds the cards.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 July 10, Megan Lindow, “Why Mugabe and His Foe Are Talking”, in Time:",
          "text": "\"In the short term, from a power perspective, the current Zimbabwe elite is holding the cards,\" says Steven Friedman, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties."
      ],
      "id": "en-hold_the_cards-en-verb-McpXF8R4",
      "links": [
        [
          "strong",
          "strong"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ],
        [
          "advantages",
          "advantages"
        ],
        [
          "in control",
          "in control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "the upper hand"
        },
        {
          "word": "whip hand"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hold all the aces"
        },
        {
          "word": "hold all the cards"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "word": "alle troeven in handen hebben"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "word": "hallita tilannetta"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "word": "avoir les cartes en main"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "word": "avere il coltello dalla parte del manico"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "mieć przewagę"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "To be in a strong position",
          "word": "tener la sartén por el mango"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold the cards.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-au-hold_the_cards.ogg/En-au-hold_the_cards.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-hold_the_cards.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold the cards"
}
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        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "holding the cards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "held the cards",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "held the cards",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
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        "1": "hold<,,held> the cards"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "the upper hand"
    },
    {
      "word": "whip hand"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
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        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1907, R. Austin Freeman, chapter 14, in The Red Thumb Mark:",
          "text": "\"[B]ut if you make conditions I have no choice but to accept them, seeing that you hold the cards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986 August 17, Peter H. Lewis, “Practical Traveller: Learning the ABC's — as well as the XYZ's — of Flying”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-01-12:",
          "text": "Once a ticket is paid for and the airline has your money, it holds the cards.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 July 10, Megan Lindow, “Why Mugabe and His Foe Are Talking”, in Time:",
          "text": "\"In the short term, from a power perspective, the current Zimbabwe elite is holding the cards,\" says Steven Friedman, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strong",
          "strong"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ],
        [
          "advantages",
          "advantages"
        ],
        [
          "in control",
          "in control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold the cards.ogg",
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "hold all the aces"
    },
    {
      "word": "hold all the cards"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "word": "alle troeven in handen hebben"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "word": "hallita tilannetta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "word": "avoir les cartes en main"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "word": "avere il coltello dalla parte del manico"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "mieć przewagę"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "To be in a strong position",
      "word": "tener la sartén por el mango"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold the cards"
}

Download raw JSONL data for hold the cards meaning in All languages combined (3.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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