three-sheet

English

Verb

three-sheet (third-person singular simple present three-sheets, present participle three-sheeting, simple past and past participle three-sheeted)

1. (theater) To exaggerate, hype up, or show off.
   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎^[1]:

     Now I don't think a man ought to be a spendthrift in order to be a good fellow, but a ball player getting four thousand a year shouldn't three-sheet himself every time he lets go of a quarter.

   • 1939, Modern Music, volumes 17-18, page 187:

     The Ballet Theatre surprised everybody. This top-heavy art trust, three-sheeted as “the greatest collaboration in ballet history,” functioned prodigiously through a long three weeks' sprint.

   • 1972, William L. Slout, Theatre in a Tent:

     The leading man often wore a blond wig in some parts, and his entrance through the center door was a studied art, surpassed only by his "three-sheeting" ability in front of the post office at mail time.

   • 1973, N. Allardyce, British Drama, page 277:

     […] where he could afford the best seats in the theater, and where the stories thrilled him to the core, and the sentiments of the characters could be understood and approved by every true-born Englishman, where the actors tore their lungs and three-sheeted their passions for his exclusive benefit.

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “three-sheet”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang