Meaning & Analysis
The phrase literally describes the physical act of hiding one's laughter by covering the mouth with the wide, loose sleeve of a garment.
Insights
Concealed Amusement
The most common meaning is to feel amused or gleeful about something in secret, while maintaining a serious or neutral demeanor externally. It implies a private joke or a hidden satisfaction that is not shared with others.
Secret Scorn
The proverb can carry a more negative connotation of hidden scorn or contempt. A person might 'laugh in their sleeve' at someone else's misfortune, naivety, or failure, indicating a sense of superiority and derision that they dare not express openly.
Cunning Deception
It can signify cunning or duplicity, where an individual inwardly delights in the success of their own deception or trickery. They are pleased that others are falling for their scheme, and they hide their triumphant laughter.
Historical Fashion and Gesture
The proverb's origin is tied to historical fashion, particularly the wide, flowing sleeves of medieval and Renaissance attire, which provided a convenient way to physically conceal one's face and suppress laughter or a smirk. This connection to material culture anchors the abstract idea of secret amusement in a tangible, historical gesture.
Psychology of Concealment
This phrase masterfully captures the psychological tension between inner feeling and outward expression. It speaks to the universal human practice of emotional regulation, where one consciously masks true reactions—be it amusement, contempt, or satisfaction—to navigate social situations, maintain decorum, or hold a strategic advantage.
Social Performance
The act of laughing in one's sleeve is a form of social performance. It implies an awareness of an audience and the deliberate maintenance of a facade. This reveals a sophisticated understanding of social dynamics, where what is left unsaid or unseen is often as important as what is openly displayed.
Rhetorical Devices
Idiom
The phrase is a classic idiom, where the collective meaning (secret amusement) is entirely different from the literal definition of the words, making it a concise and evocative expression.
Imagery
It creates a powerful and memorable visual of a person physically hiding their face in their clothing, which effectively conveys the central themes of secrecy, concealment, and suppressed emotion.
Transcription
Quotations
To that I saied nought, but laught in my sleeve.
I smiled in my sleue.
They laugh in their sleeve, which content themselves with the secret and inward feeling of their owne joy.
They laugh in their sleeves to see how pretily they fetch in such sommes of money.
She . . doth not a litle reioyce and smile in her sleeve to see it.
Luke laughs in his sleeve.
(his sleeve).
To laugh in's sleeve.
I laught in my sleeve.
To laugh in one's Sleeves, inwardly slyly.
Cross References
- See St., no. 2489.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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