The part of a piece of clothing that covers your arm. Sleeves can be short, long, or missing completely.
“Sleeve” comes from Old English “slīef” or “slēfe,” related to words about sliding or slipping. The idea is something your arm can slip into. The basic form and meaning have stayed close for over a thousand years.
The expression “to have something up your sleeve” comes from hiding things in the wide sleeves people once wore. Now we hide tricks in code or phones, but the metaphor stayed. Your sleeve is a tiny piece of fabric with a big cultural footprint—from fashion to magic to idioms.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.