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strong side

strong side

6.0
The pair that holds most high cards and is likely to win most tricks
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : lado fuerte
  • During the last hand, it was clear that we had the strong side with all the high-ranking cards.

Examples

  • In the card game bridge, our strong side won by taking most of the tricks.

  • When playing spades, a team with a strong side often dominates the game.

  • Strong side ! - Aah ! - Aah !

How Strong

strong side
  • Jargon
6.0
weak side
5 3.7

Surface Forms

strong side singular
strong sides plural

Morphology

strong + side

The meaning 'the part/area that is stronger or has more players' is directly and predictably built from 'strong' (having strength) + 'side' (a part/area or flank). This adjective+noun composition follows normal English patterns and is cross-linguistically obvious, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Strong side comes from card players who counted high cards; the partnership with most high cards was seen as the 'strong' side and likely 'to win the most tricks', so the phrase means the team expected to win the hand.