sleeves from one's vest

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

sleeves from one's vest pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) Something non-existent; something of no value or cost.
   • 1980, Alvin W. Cohn, Benjamin Ward, Improving Management in Criminal Justice, page 79:

     "when a prosecutor dismisses some of the charges in a multi-count indictment, he is giving the defendant the sleeves from his vest"

   • 2003, Ronald Reagan, Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Graebner Anderson, Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, page xii:

     "Mr. President," I said, "We don't have anything to deploy so you are giving them the sleeves from your vest.

   • 2006, Richard Sonnenfeldt, Witness to Nuremberg: The Chief American Interpreter at the War Crimes Trials, page 170:

     Of someone stingy he would say, "This guy wouldn't give you the sleeves from his vest."