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
I have a book in petto," the professor said, "which will, I think, be more valuable and interesting than the others.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 26, September, 1880 by Various
The Pope may, and often does, keep back "in his breast," in petto, the name of some candidate if he thinks it expedient.
From Rome by Hope Malleson
It all goes on in petto, right here in undergraduate Princeton.
From The Guarded Heights by Wadsworth Camp
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.
