card

card¹

noun

1》 thick, stiff paper or thin cardboard.

2》 a piece of card for writing on, especially a postcard or greetings card.

    ↘a business card or visiting card.

3》 a small rectangular piece of plastic containing machine-readable personal data, e.g. a credit card or cash card.

4》 a playing card.

    ↘(cards) [treated as sing.] a game played with playing cards.

5》 (cards) Brit. informal documents relating to an employee, especially for tax and national insurance, held by the employer.

6》 a scorecard, in particular a list of holes on a golf course.

    ↘a programme of events at a race meeting.

7》 Computing a circuit board that can be inserted in a computer to give extra facilities.

8》 informal, dated or N. Amer. a person regarded as odd or amusing.

verb

1》 write (something) on a card, especially for indexing.

2》 N. Amer. check the identity card of (someone), especially to verify their age.

Phrases

a card up one's sleeve Brit. a plan or asset that is kept secret until it is needed.

give someone their cards (or get one's cards) Brit. informal dismiss someone (or be dismissed) from employment.

hold all the cards be in a very strong position.

on (or N. Amer. in) the cards informal possible or likely.

play the —— card exploit the specified issue or idea mentioned, especially for political advantage: he saw an opportunity to play the peace card.

play one's cards right make the best use of one's assets and opportunities.

put (or lay) one's cards on the table be completely open in declaring one's intentions.

Origin

ME: from OFr. carte, from L. carta, charta, from Gk khartēs 'papyrus leaf'.

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card²

verb comb and clean (raw wool or similar material) with a sharp-toothed instrument to disentangle the fibres before spinning.

noun a toothed implement or machine for this purpose.

Derivatives

carder noun

Origin

ME: from OFr. carde, from Provençal carda, from cardar 'tease, comb', based on L. carere 'to card'.