laugh up one's sleeve
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To be secretly amused at something: “Arnie acted concerned over our plight, but we knew he was laughing up his sleeve.”
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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
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Words nearby laugh up one's sleeve
laugh out of the other side of one's mouth, laughter, laughter club, Laughton, laugh track, laugh up one's sleeve, lau lau, laumontite, launce, Launceston, launch
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Example sentences from the Web for laugh up one's sleeve
Idioms and Phrases with laugh up one's sleeve
laugh up one's sleeve
Rejoice or exult secretly, hide one's amusement, as in When she tripped over her bridal train, her sister couldn't help laughing up her sleeve. This expression replaced the earlier laugh in one's sleeve, used by Richard Sheridan in The Rivals (1775): “'Tis false, sir, I know you are laughing in your sleeve.” The expression, which alludes to hiding one's laughter in big loose sleeves, was already a proverb in the mid-1500s.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.