- 1 a part of a piece of clothing that covers all or part of your arm a dress with short/long sleeves Dan rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands. see also shirtsleeve Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivelong, short, left, … verb + sleevepush back, push up, roll up, … prepositionin… sleeves, on a/the sleeve See full entry See related entries: Parts of clothing
- 2-sleeved (in adjectives) having sleeves of the type mentioned a short-sleeved shirt
- 3(also jacket especially in North American English) a stiff paper or cardboard envelope for a record a colourful sleeve design Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivealbum, CD, DVD, … verb + sleevedesign sleeve + nounnotes, design See full entry
- 4a tube that covers a part of a machine to protect it Word OriginOld English slēfe, slīef(e), slȳf; related to Middle Dutch sloove ‘covering’.Extra examples He designed record sleeves for the Rolling Stones. I looked around to see who was tugging at my sleeve. It was sunny, and everyone was in short sleeves. She rolled up her sleeves and got down to work. The music is explained in the extensive sleeve notes. There’s tomato on your sleeve.Idioms
an ace up your sleeve (British English) (North American English an ace in the hole) jump to other results
to have an idea, a plan, etc. that will give you an advantage in a particular situation and that you keep secret until it is needed
to have an idea, some plans, etc. that you keep ready to use if it becomes necessary
to keep a plan or an idea secret until you need to use it Actually I do have a few ideas up my sleeve.
(informal) to be secretly amused about something
to prepare to work or fight
to allow your feelings to be seen by other people He’s not one to wear his heart on his sleeve.
Check pronunciation: sleeve
