Word.ws English Dictionary

sleeves from one's vest

sleeves from one's vest noun: something non-existent; something of no value or cost.

Noun

sleeves from one's vest pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Something non-existent; something of no value or cost.
    • "when a prosecutor dismisses some of the charges in a multi-count indictment, he is giving the defendant the sleeves from his vest"1980, Alvin W. Cohn, Benjamin Ward, Improving Management in Criminal Justice, page 79
    • "Mr. President," I said, "We don't have anything to deploy so you are giving them the sleeves from your vest.2003, Ronald Reagan, Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Graebner Anderson, Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, page xii

Questions about sleeves from one's vest

What does sleeves from one's vest mean?
Sleeves from one's vest means something non-existent; something of no value or cost.
What part of speech is sleeves from one's vest?
Sleeves from one's vest is a noun.

Words near sleeves from one's vest in the dictionary

  1. sleevemaking
  2. sleevenotes
  3. sleever
  4. sleevers
  5. sleeves
  6. sleeves from one's vest
  7. sleevesful
  8. sleevie
  9. sleevies
  10. sleeving
  11. sleevings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sleeves from one's vest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-sleeves from one's vest.ogg.

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