- To laugh in the sleeve
- Sleeve Sleeve, n. [OE. sleeve, sleve, AS. sl?fe, sl?fe; akin
to sl?fan to put on, to clothe; cf. OD. sloove the turning up
of anything, sloven to turn up one's sleeves, sleve a sleeve,
G. schlaube a husk, pod.]
1. The part of a garment which covers the arm; as, the sleeve
of a coat or a gown. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. A narrow channel of water. [R.] [1913 Webster]
The Celtic Sea, called oftentimes the Sleeve. --Drayton. [1913 Webster]
3. (Mach.) (a) A tubular part made to cover, sustain, or steady another part, or to form a connection between two parts. (b) A long bushing or thimble, as in the nave of a wheel. (c) A short piece of pipe used for covering a joint, or forming a joint between the ends of two other pipes. [1913 Webster]
4. (Elec.) A double tube of copper, in section like the figure 8, into which the ends of bare wires are pushed so that when the tube is twisted an electrical connection is made. The joint thus made is called
{a McIntire joint}. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Sleeve button}, a detachable button to fasten the wristband or cuff.
{Sleeve links}, two bars or buttons linked together, and used to fasten a cuff or wristband.
{To laugh in the sleeve} or {To laugh up one's sleeve} to laugh privately or unperceived, especially while apparently preserving a grave or serious demeanor toward the person or persons laughed at; that is, perhaps, originally, by hiding the face in the wide sleeves of former times.
{To pinon the sleeve of}, or {To hang on the sleeve of}, to be, or make, dependent upon. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
