Idiom
card of ten
Meaning
A bold front, an instance of standing one's ground.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He stood his ground and held his card of ten.”
“Despite the intense pressure from the board, the manager played his card of ten to protect his team.”
“Facing the hostile committee, she maintained her composure and played her card of ten, refusing to concede a single point of her proposal.”
Examples
simple
“He stood his ground and held his card of ten.”
contextual
“Despite the intense pressure from the board, the manager played his card of ten to protect his team.”
complex
“Facing the hostile committee, she maintained her composure and played her card of ten, refusing to concede a single point of her proposal.”
Origin
Apparently from the use of cards with a rank of 10 in early card games.
Key words
Related idioms
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