laugh in one's sleeve en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(Canada, US, idiomatic) to laugh in secret or to oneself, usually gloatingly
Nixon boastfully called the seven days he spent on the Chinese mainland "the week that changed the world"–without, however, specifying whether the change was for the better or for the worse. The way he humbled himself before Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai reminded me of the tribute-bearing foreign emissaries of the previous centuries who went to Peking to pay homage at the Chinese Imperial Court. Nixon's hosts must have laughed in their sleeves at his behavior during their meetings.
1983, James C. H. Shen, “Beginnings of Endings”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| laughed in one's sleeve | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| laughed in one's sleeve | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| laugh up one's sleeve | alternative | lexicographic | |
| laughs in one's sleeve | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| laughing in one's sleeve | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Translations (15)
ro râde în barbă (laugh secretly) · ca riure per sota el nas (laugh secretly) · ro râde pe sub mustață (laugh secretly) · pl śmiać się w kułak (laugh secretly) · yue 偷笑 (laugh secretly) · fi nauraa itsekseen (laugh secretly) · vo lusmilön kläno (laugh secretly) · fr rire dans sa barbe (laugh secretly) · de sich ins Fäustchen lachen (laugh secretly) · nl in zijn vuistje lachen (laugh secretly) · tr bıyık altından gülmek (laugh secretly) · it ridere sotto i baffi (laugh secretly) · cmn 偷笑 (laugh secretly) · fi nauraa salaa (laugh secretly) · fr rire sous cape (laugh secretly)