trumps up

trump

1 [truhmp]
noun
1.
Cards.
a.
any playing card of a suit that for the time outranks the other suits, such a card being able to take any card of another suit.
b.
Often, trumps. (used with a singular verb) the suit itself.
2.
Informal. a fine person; brick.
verb (used with object)
3.
Cards. to take with a trump.
4.
to excel; surpass; outdo.
verb (used without object)
5.
Cards.
a.
to play a trump.
b.
to take a trick with a trump.
00:10
Trumps up is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
6.
trump up, to devise deceitfully or dishonestly, as an accusation; fabricate: Try as they might, they were unable to trump up a convincing case against him.

Origin:
1520–30; unexplained variant of triumph

trump·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
trump1 (trʌmp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  Also called: trump card
 a.  any card from the suit chosen as trumps
 b.  this suit itself; trumps
2.  Also called: trump card a decisive or advantageous move, resource, action, etc
3.  informal a fine or reliable person
 
vb
4.  to play a trump card on (a suit, or a particular card of a suit, that is not trumps)
5.  (tr) to outdo or surpass
 
[C16: variant of triumph]
 
'trumpless1
 
adj

trump2 (trʌmp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a trumpet or the sound produced by one
2.  the last trump the final trumpet call that according to the belief of some will awaken and raise the dead on the Day of Judgment
 
vb
3.  (intr) to produce a sound upon or as if upon the trumpet
4.  (tr) to proclaim or announce with or as if with a fanfare
5.  slang (Brit) (intr) to expel intestinal gas through the anus
 
[C13: from Old French trompe, from Old High German trumpa trumpet; compare trombone]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

trump
"playing card of a suit ranking above others," 1529, alteration of triumph, name of a card game. The verb meaning "surpass, beat" is attested from 1586.

trump
"fabricate, devise," 1695, from trump "deceive, cheat" (1513), from M.E. trumpen (late 14c.), from O.Fr. tromper "deceive," of uncertain origin, perhaps from a verb meaning "to blow a trumpet." Trumped up "false, concocted" first recorded 1728.

trump
"trumpet," c.1300, from O.Fr. trompe "long, tube-like musical wind instrument" (12c.), cognate with Prov. tromba, It. tromba, all probably from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. trumpa and O.N. trumba "trumpet"), of imitative origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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