trumps


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trump 1

 (trŭmp)
n.
1. Games
a. often trumps A suit in card games that outranks all other suits for the duration of a hand.
b. A card of such a suit.
c. A trump card.
2. A key resource to be used at an opportune moment.
3. Informal A reliable or admirable person.
v. trumped, trump·ing, trumps
v.tr.
1. Games To take (a card or trick) with a trump.
2. To get the better of (an adversary or competitor, for example) by using a crucial, often hidden resource.
v.intr. Games
To play a trump.
Phrasal Verb:
trump up
To devise fraudulently: trumped up a charge of conspiracy.

[Alteration of triumph.]

trump 2

 (trŭmp)
n.
A trumpet.

[Middle English trompe, from Old French; see trumpet.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trumps

(trʌmps)
pl n
1. (Card Games) (sometimes singular) cards any one of the four suits, decided by cutting or bidding, that outranks all the other suits for the duration of a deal or game
2. turn up trumps (of a person) to bring about a happy or successful conclusion (to an event, problem, etc), esp unexpectedly
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in classic literature ?
Arnold announced, with undiminished good-humor, that he saw his way clearly, now, to losing the game, and then played his first card--the Queen of Trumps!
"All included," calmly retorted Fogg; adding, as he threw down the cards, "Two trumps."
It was a fine gam we had, and they were all trumps --every soul on board.
Vanity occasionally leads a man to display wealth, but sooner or later the Emperor trumps up a charge against him--any sort of one will do--and confiscates his property.
Elizabeth had the feeling that she had played her ace of trumps and by some miracle lost the trick.
Joan Durbeyfield always managed to find consolation somewhere: "Well, as one of the genuine stock, she ought to make her way with 'en, if she plays her trump card aright.
"Well, my love, I consider him a trump, in the fullest sense of that expressive word, but I do wish he was a little younger and a good deal richer."
All hands voted Queequeg a noble trump; the captain begged his pardon.
"I say," said East, stopping to look at him and rest his leg, "you're a trump, Brown.
There rose the choral hymn of praise, And trump and timbrel answer'd keen, And Zion's daughters pour'd their lays, With priest's and warrior's voice between.
As he timed it with his watch, Bassett likened it to the trump of an archangel.
It came into my mind in the nick of time, how Columbus, or Cortez, or one of those people, played an eclipse as a saving trump once, on some savages, and I saw my chance.