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Glite Dictionary
to one's trumps

to one's trumps

9.9
To be forced to use your best options in a difficult situation
  • idiom
  • Archaic
: recurrir a lo mejor
  • When negotiations stalled, the company was put to its trumps to secure a deal.

Examples

  • Finding herself low on funds, she was finally driven to her trumps.

  • When the project deadline was moved forward, the whole team had to go to their trumps to meet the new expectations.

  • The sudden change in plans put the entire team to their trumps.

  • You have to to your trumps now!

  • He had to to his trumps during the meeting.

  • In a tight spot, the manager was forced to her trumps and presented her best proposal.

  • Faced with unexpected challenges, the organization was pushed to its trumps to find a viable solution.

Synonyms

to put to one's trumps
vsto one's trumps
  • UK
9.9

Need to use all your skill and energy to deal with a hard problem

is the same meaning but expressed without the leading action word

Surface Forms

to one's trumps main

Morphology

to + one's + trump

The sense 'use one's best resources' derives from the card-game metaphor of a 'trump' card, so a learner who recognises 'trump' as a noun meaning a winning card can infer the idiom. However, the provided constituent gloss ('trump' as a verb 'to defeat') and the presence of function words ('to', 'one's') make the meaning only partially predictable for a B1 learner who has not seen the noun/metaphor before.

Etymology

To one's trumps may come from card games where a trump is the strongest card that can beat others. So being put to your trumps means you must play your best card, and today it means 'to use your strongest resources' when things are difficult.