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.
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
Both, as a matter of fact, may now be Cardinals in petto, i.e., in the Pope's breast.
From Time Magazine Archive
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 Hall, G. Stanley
When about seventeen this "Duchess of Lancaster" in petto came to London, and made the acquaintance of John Thomas Serres, proprietor of the Coburg Theatre, and son of a royal academician.
From Claimants to Royalty by Ingram, John M.
One would think there was a great dinner in petto, in every cabin of the fleet, by the number of the captain's stewards that are ashore, hey!
From The Two Admirals by Cooper, James Fenimore
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.
