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1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. bk. III., ch. i. 'You're one of the Patriarchs; you're a shaky old card; and you can't be in love with this Lizzie.'
3. (common).—The 'ticket'; the 'figure'; the correct thing. [Possibly from the k'rect card (q.v.) of racing.]
1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 47. I've got 10s. often for a great coat, and higher and lower, oftener lower in course; but 10s. is about the card for a good thing.
Verb.—Also carding, subs. (Irish Nationalist). A peculiar form of torture, which consists in the application of the card, a spiked or toothed implement used in the preparation of flax and wool, to the naked shoulders, &c., and is commonly reserved for 'unpatriotic' girls and women.
1889. The Scots Observer. 'They never told the ramping crowd to card a woman's hide.'
To give one cards, phr. (American).—To give one an advantage. The English equivalent, 'to give points,' is derived from the billiard saloon. An analogous French phrase is faire un bœuf.
1888. Grip (Toronto), May. You know that Artie found a Chinaman out in 'Frisco who could give him cards and spades and beat him out.
On the cards, phr. (common).—Within the range of probability. [Dickens popularised the expression, which appears to mean 'possible to turn up,' as anything in the game when the cards are turned up. Still, it is not unlikely that the phrase originated with cartomancy, at a time when cards were frequently consulted as to the issue of enterprises.] See N. and Q., 7 s. iv., 507; v. 14, 77, 495.
1740. Smollett, Translation of il Bias. I showed them tricks which they did not know to be on the cards, and yet acknowledged to be better than their own.
1813. Sir R. Wilson, Diary, II., 40. It is not out of the cards that we might do more. [m.]
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, l., p. 219. By way of going in for anything that might be on the cards, petition to the House of Commons, etc.
1868. W. Collins, Moonstone, I., p. 149. It's quite on the cards, sir, that you have put the clue into our hands.
1874. Saturday Review, April, p. 488. When they discovered that a Restoration was not at present on the cards, they became Conservatives.
1890. H. D. Traill, A Bulgarian Appeal. 'Saturday Songs,' p. 43. I'll be shot if I do, though it's equally true That it's quite on the cards I'll be shot if I don't.
To pack, stock, or put up, the cards, phr. (Western American).—To prepare cards for cheating purposes.—See Concaves, Pack, and Stock broads.
To speak by the card, phr. (general).—To speak with precision; or with the utmost accuracy. [An allusion to the card of the mariner's compass.]
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, v., 1, 149. We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.
1867. Yates, Forlorn Hope, i., p. 23. 'Are you speaking by the card?' said Count Bulow, with the slightest foreign accent.
1879. Trollope, Thackeray [in 'English men of Letters' series], p. 186. Henry Esmond . . . however, is not made to speak altogether by the card, or he would be unnatural.
Cardinal, subs. (old).—1. A red
cloak worn by ladies circa 1740
and later. [From the colour and
shape which suggested a cardinal's
vestment.]
