in spades
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From the card game of bridge, in which spades is the highest suit. Perhaps influenced by phrases with similar meaning, in spadefuls or in spate.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ɪn ˈspeɪds/
Audio (AU) (file)
Prepositional phrase[edit]
- (idiomatic) In large quantities; to a high degree; to excess, without restraint.
- Last year we harvested almost no potatoes, but this year we're getting them in spades.
- Synonyms: in droves, abundantly, but good
- 1954, Richard [Pike] Bissell, High Water (Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, OCLC 760577; republished St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87351-221-3, page 115:
- "He is three times that bad in spades," I said. "He ain't washed his socks in four months for one thing," […]
- 1993 June 23, Patricia Leigh Brown, “Yellowstone’s landmark in logs”, in The New York Times[1], archived from the original on 28 April 2016:
- Character the hotel has in spades. It begins at the parking lot, where bison roam.
- 2009 December 8, Justin Fox, “The top 10 everything of 2009: Top 10 best business deals: 2. JPMorgan Chase and the deals it didn't do”, in Time[2], archived from the original on 23 April 2016:
- This caution hurt JPMorgan's profits at the time but paid off in spades in 2009, as the bank earned $8.5 billion in the first three quarters.
- (idiomatic) Beyond doubt.
Translations[edit]
in droves — see in droves