open and aboveboard

1. Also, honest and aboveboard. Candid and fair, without deceit or trickery, as in I'll join you, but only if everything remains open and aboveboard. Both versions of this expression are redundancies, since they use open and aboveboard in the sense of “honest.” The latter word, dating from the early 1600s, comes from gambling and alludes to the fact that card players who do not keep their hands on the table (board) may be suspected of changing their cards under the table.

Example Sentences

"China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs and always acts in an open and aboveboard manner," the Chinese embassy in London has previously said.

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EcoHealth’s relationship with Chinese research institutions was open and aboveboard, and its funnelling U.S. grants to those institutions explicitly approved by the NIH and HHS.

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“When some on the U.S. side pointed fingers at our laboratory in Wuhan, we openly invited the WHO mission for a visit and provided full cooperation. We have also given media access to foreign journalists. But can the U.S. side do the same, and invite international experts and media for a visit in an open and aboveboard manner?”

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Shaw’s lawyer Stanley L. Friedman said the financial transactions were open and aboveboard.

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And for parts of the past century, wealthy players were restrained, however imperfectly, by campaign finance laws aimed at keeping the process open and aboveboard.

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