in petto
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of in petto
Literally, “in (the) breast”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both, as a matter of fact, may now be Cardinals in petto, i.e., in the Pope's breast.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many American Catholics hope that Pius XII may have created New York's Archbishop Francis J. Spellman a Cardinal in petto when the American prelate was at the Vatican a month ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had a grand scheme in petto, in the execution of which they could mainly assist him.
From Rookwood by William Harrison Ainsworth
He first of all imagined in detail an angelic host, and finally a whole theology was wrought out in petto.
From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by G. Stanley Hall
You will take it to heart, but you must know that our esteemed brigadier has still something in petto.
From Jena or Sedan? by Franz Beyerlein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
