Have something up one's sleeve

If you have something up your sleeve, you have some hidden or secret plan, idea or skill that you can use to your advantage when the time is right.

For example, it might be:

• a plan to get a better deal in a negotiation.
• a trick or technique (that other people don't  know about) to fix a problem with a machine.
• a contingency plan to help overcome a problem.
  

Origin

The expression comes from a technique used by magicians, who would hide a card up their sleeve in order to perform magic tricks. Card players may also cheat by hiding a card up their sleeve that they can pull out at a useful time in the game in order to win. Nowadays, if you have something up your sleeve, it means you have something (e.g., a plan or idea) you haven't revealed to others yet that will help you in a particular situation.

Use:

The phrase is always used in this pattern:

• have…up one's sleeve
  

Note that you MUST add a word in the middle of the expression (where the three dots are). The most common words to add are:

• something
• anything (usually used in questions)
• a trick
• an ace (The ace is the highest-value card in most card games, so if you have an ace up your sleeve, you have a particularly good plan or idea—a secret weapon.)
  

Examples:   

• Don't worry. I have something up my sleeve to deal with this.
• If I were you, I'd ask Jason. He knows all about this instrument and always seems to have a few tricks up his sleeve to get it working when it breaks down.
• I've tried everything I can think of. I'm afraid don't have any more ideas up my sleeve.
• I'm afraid I've run out of ideas. Do you have anything up your sleeve?
• When it comes to negotiation, she always has a trick or two up her sleeve to the get the deal she wants.
• The team looked like they were going to lose, but they had an ace up their sleeve. In the second half, they brought on a brilliant new young player as a substitute, who scored two goals in quick succession to win the match.