From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtrumptrump1 /trʌmp/ noun 1 → trumps2 [countable] (also trump card)DGC a card from the suit that has been chosen to have a higher value than the other suits in a particular game3 → trump card4 → come/turn up trumps
Examples from the Corpus
trump• Spades are trump.• We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card.• Why, produce her trump card.• Adversity is the regime's natural habitat, and in dealing with its own populace its one moral trump.• In return, it promised not to play its one trump card - water.• The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards.• Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card.trumptrump2 verb [transitive] 1 DGCto play a trump that beats someone else’s card in a game2 to do better than someone else in a situation when people are competing with each other By wearing a simple but stunning dress, she had trumped them all. → trump something ↔ up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
trump• In the contest for national ascendancy, motherhood appeared to be trumping arms-bearing.• Benckiser trumped Green's bid to buy the company.• A family's decision for a woman to marry trumps her own decision to participate politically.• When state department analysts are asked for their opinions, however, pragmatism will probably trump ideology.• That easily trumped the 23 percent winnings turned in by the overall market.• That you have trumped this up.• Anxious to avoid indictment, peasants trumped up charges against their neighbors, while others accused their rivals of imaginary crimes. 