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Ace in the hole A trump card; something advantageous held in reserve until needed, and especially until needed to turn apparent failure into actual success. In stud poker a hole card is the card dealt face down in the first round. Since an ace is the highest and most valuable card, the player who receives an ace as his hole card has a decided advantage. Beat to the punch To get the drop on, to beat to the draw, to be a step ahead; to gain the advantage through quickness and alertness; to steal someone’s thunder; to win at oneupmanship. Webster’s Third cites W.
San Antonio, TX
Reilly’s use of this boxing metaphor. Beats you to the conversational punch by having his say before you have a chance to open your mouth.
Catch a weasel asleep To gain an advantage over something due to its inattentiveness. A sleeping animal is an easy target. This expression is an older equivalent of the current to catch someone napping. Catch napping To acquire an advantage over someone through his inattentiveness. A sleeping person or animal is easily taken off guard by another person or predator. As used in the phrase, however, napping does not carry its literal meaning of ‘sleeping.’ It means simply ‘unawares, off guard, inattentive.’ get the drop on To have the advantage over someone; to be in a superior, controlling position, such that one cannot be taken unawares.
Most sources cite the following quotation from Alexander K. McClure’s Three Thousand Miles through the Rocky Mountains (1869) as the first use of this colloquial American expression. They went in upon far better Cards to overthrow King Henry, than King Henry had to overthrow King Richard. (Francis Bacon, Henry VII, 1622) have the ball at one’s feet To be in a strategically advantageous position; to be in the driver’s seat. In the British game of football (American soccer), whoever has the ball at his feet has the power to call the shots. This expression can be used in regard to politics, personal relations, or any area in which there are plays for power as one person or group attempts to gain control. When a woman knows where she stands, and has the inside track, the man has no show whatever.
(Atherton, Perch of Devil, 1914) in the catbird seat In an advantageous position or condition; ahead of the game; also sitting in the catbird seat. Slang expression, dating at least from 1942, was popularized by baseball announcer “Red” Barber during his 1945-55 radio broadcasts of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball games. Keep one jump ahead To advance or increase before someone or something else and thus maintain an advantageous position or superior status. The exact origin of this 20th-century expression is unknown; it may come from the game of checkers in which one player jumps ‘takes possession of’ another player’s checkers—literally advancing one checker in front of another one—in order to win the game. That would allow the Government to permit wage rises to keep one jump ahead of prices. ( Sun, January 6, 1973) sitting pretty In a favorable situation or condition; at an advantage; successful; well-to-do; well-off, set.
This expression has been in use since 1926. Steal a march on To gain an advantage over, to get the jump on, to be a step ahead of.
This expression originally had to do with the stealthy movement of troops without the enemy’s knowledge. It still retains connotations of furtiveness or secrecy. Happening to awake earlier than usual, he stole a march on his nurses, and walked out and tottered into the jail.