Meaning: 12-tone music

n.
a type of serial music introduced by Arnold Schoenberg; uses a tone row formed by the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale (and inverted or backward versions of the row)

laugh up one's sleeve, to Idiom, Proverb

a bite to eat

a lunch, a snack We can grab a bite to eat at the arena. They sell snacks there.

a bone to pick

something to argue about, a matter to discuss "Joe sounded angry when he said, ""I have a bone to pick with you."""

a fart in a windstorm

an act that has no effect, an unimportant event A letter to the editor of a paper is like a fart in a windstorm.

a fine-toothed comb

a careful search, a search for a detail She read the file carefully - went over it with a fine-toothed comb.

a hard row to hoe

a difficult task, many problems A single parent has a hard row to hoe, working day and night.

a hot potato

a situation likely to cause trouble to the person handling it The issue of the non-union workers is a real hot potato that we must deal with.

a hot topic

popular topic, the talk of the town Sex is a hot topic. Sex will get their attention.

a into g

(See ass into gear)

a little bird told me

someone told me, one of your friends told me """How did you know that I play chess?"" ""Oh, a little bird told me."""

a party to that

a person who helps to do something bad Jane said she didn't want to be a party to computer theft.

laugh up one's sleeve

to beam secretly; to beam agilely to oneself. Jane looked actual serious, but I knew she was bedlam up her sleeve. I told Sally that her dress was darling, but I was bedlam up my sleeve because her dress was too small.Learn more: laugh, sleeve, up

laugh up one's sleeve

Rejoice or exult secretly, adumbrate one's amusement, as in When she tripped over her conjugal train, her sister couldn't advice bedlam up her sleeve. This announcement replaced the beforehand laugh in one's sleeve, acclimated by Richard Sheridan in The Rivals (1775): "'Tis false, sir, I apperceive you are bedlam in your sleeve." The expression, which alludes to ambuscade one's amusement in big apart sleeves, was already a adage in the mid-1500s. Learn more: laugh, sleeve, up

laugh up one's sleeve, to

To be secretly amused. This term, originally laughing in one’s sleeve, alludes to concealing amusement by ambuscade one’s face in the big apart sleeves of old-time fashions. It dates from the aboriginal sixteenth aeon and was included in John Heywood’s 1546 adage collection. Learn added up one's sleeve.Learn more: laugh, up

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Dictionary

More Idioms/Phrases

a new lease on life a notch below a nut case A-OK a pack of lies a pain in the ass a pain in the butt a paper trail a party to that a pat answer a penny for your thoughts a penny pincher a perfect stranger a pick-me-up a picture is worth a thousand words a piece of ass a piece of cake laugh like a drain laugh off laugh off the stage laugh on the other side of (one's) face laugh on the other side of (one's) mouth laugh on the other side of your face laugh oneself out of laugh oneself silly laugh or cry, don't know whether to laugh out (of) the other side of (one's) face laugh out (of) the other side of (one's) mouth laugh out of laugh out of court laugh out of court, to laugh out of the other side of face and laugh out of the other ... laugh out of the other side of mouth laugh out of the other side of one's mouth laugh out of the other side of your face/mouth, you'll/to laugh somebody/something out of court laugh someone or something out of court laugh someone or something to scorn laugh till you cry laugh until you cry laugh up (one's) sleeve laugh up one's sleeve laugh up one's sleeve, to laugh up sleeve laugh up your sleeve laugh with laugh with (one) laugh with (something) laugh your head off laugh yourself silly laughing academy laughing in the aisles laughing matter laughing soup laughing stock laughing water laughingstock laughter laughter is the best medicine launch launch (one's) lunch launch (something) against (someone or something) launch against launch forth launch forth on (something) launch forth upon (something) launch into launch into (something)