back pocket

American  

[bak pahk-it] / ˈbæk ˈpɑk ɪt /

noun

1. a pocket typically placed on the seat of a pair of trousers, jeans, or shorts.

2. Sports.  a defensive position in Australian Rules football.

3. (especially in the phrase in one's back pocket) the state of being in reserve and ready for use when needed.

4. (especially in the phrase in one's back pocket) the state of being under the control of a person or organization.

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Example Sentences

I came to adore the phrase, tucking it into my back pocket like a tiny verbal talisman, alongside all the other offbeat, faintly anachronistic sayings I’d collected from the authority figures of my childhood, like the pediatrician who said “cool beans” without irony or the sixth-grade Latin teacher who deemed anything remotely pleasant “swank.”

From Salon

In practice, that meant that I wove between the casinos—all with their doors swung wide open, prepared, on principle, to welcome absolutely anyone—taking sly little sips from a miniature bottle of Jack Daniel’s stuffed in my back pocket.

From Slate

You know, those no-hitters and complete games and seeing whether somebody had a pitch in his back pocket, as the cliche goes in baseball, that they could use… That’s the way pitchers used to pitch.

From Salon

The Sweeney Cinched Waist denim jacket sold out in a day, and the Sydney Jean, an ultrawide leg with a butterfly on the back pocket, sold out in a week.

From The Wall Street Journal

Anyway, I’ll stick this counterfeit CV in my back pocket and consider using it for future job applications when we fully transition to a post-truth society in the coming months.

From Slate