sleeve
Americannoun
-
the part of a garment that covers the arm, varying in form and length but commonly tubular.
-
a protective container, usually thin and flexible with an opening on one side for insertion or removal of an item, as a paper storage envelope for a phonograph record, or a padded case for a tablet or other electronic device: a 24-sleeve CD wallet.
a form-fitting laptop sleeve;
a 24-sleeve CD wallet.
-
a pliable tubular or rectangular container for crackers, cookies, and the like that is typically opened at one end to remove individual servings: The largest box has four sleeves of saltines inside.
I ate a whole sleeve of shortbreads before I realized how many calories that is!
The largest box has four sleeves of saltines inside.
-
Machinery. a tubular piece, as of metal, fitting over a rod or the like.
-
a pattern of tattoos that covers the arm from shoulder to wrist in one integrated piece of tattoo art.
I got my first tattoo when I turned 18, and by 28 I had full sleeves on both arms.
verb (used with object)
-
to furnish with sleeves.
-
Machinery. to fit with a sleeve; join or fasten by means of a sleeve.
idioms
-
have something up one's sleeve, to have a secret plan, scheme, opinion, or the like.
I could tell by her sly look that she had something up her sleeve.
-
laugh up / in one's sleeve, to be secretly amused or contemptuous; laugh inwardly.
to laugh up one's sleeve at someone's affectations.
noun
-
the part of a garment covering the arm
-
a tubular piece that is forced or shrunk into a cylindrical bore to reduce the diameter of the bore or to line it with a different material; liner
-
a tube fitted externally over two cylindrical parts in order to join them; bush
-
US name: jacket. a flat cardboard or plastic container to protect a gramophone record
-
to prepare oneself for work, a fight, etc
-
secretly ready
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sleeve
First recorded before 950; Middle English sleve, slieve, Old English slēfe (Anglian), slīefe; akin to Dutch sloof “apron”
Explanation
The part of your clothing that covers your arm (or part of your arm) is a sleeve. Some t-shirts have long sleeves, others have short sleeves, and your tank top doesn't have any sleeves at all. On a hot day, you might roll up the sleeves of your shirt, or you might change into one with short sleeves (or no sleeves at all, also known as sleeveless). Another kind of sleeve is a container or protective covering, like a record sleeve or a sleeve of crackers. If you have something "up your sleeve," it means you're hiding something to use later in a surprising way.
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.
See Examples For:
The engine may not ultimately come to fruition, but in that case we'll have other cards up our sleeve.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said Kevin Keegan "carried the love of the game on his sleeve" as he paid a fond tribute to his former rival.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The commentary highlights growing evidence for endoscopic bariatric and metabolic therapies, including endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, as effective treatment options for obesity.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026
But it turned out that general manager Les Snead had yet another trick up his sleeve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Autumn tugs listlessly at her jacket sleeve with her free hand.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Only a mint green handbag and full sleeves of tattoos suggested that Gen Z’s reigning rock star had settled in to talk about his new album “Oh Yeah?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Up front, it was the ideal dry-goods shop: good boxes of fussy pasta and cavatappi, sleeves of biscotti, plastic-wrapped anise pizzelle, a counter where you could order hulking sandwiches and tiny cups of coffee.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Cameron Bowman, a 38-year-old driver in Waxahachie, Texas, says he opts for the cooling baseball cap and keeps an extra pair of sleeves cooled and ready for when the first pair wears off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Alongside its UK and Ireland launch, Nex has also announced a multi-year partnership with Wrexham AFC that will bring Nex branding to the club's kit sleeves, fan activations at the Racecourse Ground, and community programming.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
It was as ugly as a one-eyed dog, with long, faded sleeves and a collar at the top that probably had been white once.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
"In 2026, 1,000 cards are printed, and 800 are opened with care and sleeved straight away."
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
Not that he’s got a dearth of it; he’s been creating nearly a “postcard” a day for 30 years, and now has thousands of carefully curated pieces in archival sleeved books.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
The doll is dressed is a puff sleeved frock adorned with butterflies and flowers in yellow and blue - colours associated with Down’s syndrome awareness.
From Reuters ● Apr. 25, 2023
“The Embrace” features the disembodied arms and slender hands of a woman and the sleeved arms of a man in what is meant to be a hug.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2023
The men dressed in neat white shirts and ties, and the women wore sleeved blouses and long skirts in solid, dull colors year-round.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
At the Safa Recycling and Material Processing company, workers shovel wiring from electronics and electrical cables into a $220,000 grinding machine that shreds copper cables and separates them from their plastic sleeving.
From Nature ● Nov. 29, 2016
When these wires are adjacent to ground or battery wires they may be protected by sleeving, so as to prevent crosses.
From Cyclopedia of Telephony and Telegraphy, Vol. 2 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. by McMeen, Samuel
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.
