laugh in one's sleeve

English

Alternative forms

• (UK, Canada, idiomatic) laugh up one's sleeve

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

laugh in one's sleeve (third-person singular simple present laughs in one's sleeve, present participle laughing in one's sleeve, simple past and past participle laughed in one's sleeve)

1. (US, Canada, idiomatic) to laugh in secret or to oneself, usually gloatingly
   • 1983, James C. H. Shen, “Beginnings of Endings”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7:

     Nixon boastfully called the seven days he spent on the Chinese mainland "the week that changed the world"–without, however, specifying whether the change was for the better or for the worse. The way he humbled himself before Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai reminded me of the tribute-bearing foreign emissaries of the previous centuries who went to Peking to pay homage at the Chinese Imperial Court. Nixon's hosts must have laughed in their sleeves at his behavior during their meetings.

Translations

laugh secretly

• Catalan: riure per sota el nas
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 偷笑 (tau¹ siu³)

  Mandarin: 偷笑 (zh) (tōuxiào)

• Dutch: in zijn vuistje lachen
• Finnish: nauraa itsekseen, nauraa salaa
• French: rire dans sa barbe (fr), rire sous cape (fr)
• German: sich ins Fäustchen lachen (de)
• Italian: ridere sotto i baffi
• Polish: śmiać się w kułak (pl) impf (literally “to laugh in one's fist”)
• Romanian: râde în barbă, râde pe sub mustață
• Russian: смея́ться в кула́к impf (smejátʹsja v kulák, literally “to laugh in one's fist”)
• Turkish: bıyık altından gülmek (tr)
• Volapük: lusmilön kläno