It looks like my ambitious design to add a new idiom to my vocabulary every day is a bit unrealistic. The pressure of work being what it is, I’ll have to content myself with working on my project if and when I can. No matter, I’ll try to make up for lost time. So today we’ll do three idioms.
1-2. Come within an ace of something and be within an ace of something.
If you say that someone comes within an ace of something, you mean that they very nearly succeed in doing it. You can also say that they are within an ace of something. [BRITISH]. In this expression, ‘ace’ refers to a score of one on a dice, rather than a playing card. (CCDI)
In my book, this idiom falls into the category of Success and Failure. This is what my dictionaries say on the subject:
The most comprehensive entry is found in the Lingvo-based dictionary Idioms (En-Ru) (Большой англо-русский фразеологический словарь. © «Русский язык-Медиа», 2006, Кунин А.В. 20 тыс. фразеологических единиц.):
едва не, чуть не, вот-вот; ≈ на грани, на волосок от: Yet a man it was, I could no longer be in doubt about that. I began to recall that I had heard of cannibals. I was within an ace of calling for help. (R. L. Stevenson, ‘The Treasure Island’, ch. XV) — Да, то был человек, в этом я больше не сомневался. Я вспомнил все, что слыхал о людоедах, и собирался уже позвать на помощь. In the struggle, he contrived to get his hand into my cravat, and twisted it until I was within an ace of being strangled. (R. Aldington, ‘The Strange Life of Charles Waterton’, ch. V) — Завязалась драка. Он изловчился, схватил меня за галстук и стянул его так, что я едва не отдал Богу душу. He was so angry that he came within an ace of tears... (M. Allingham, ‘The Tiger in the Smoke’, ch. XV) — Казалось, слезы вот-вот брызнут из его глаз - так он рассердился.
Other Lingvo dictionaries give the following examples:
“The car came within an ace of hitting the child.” • “within an ace of hitting a telephone pole” • “they came within an ace of death” • “he came within an ace of winning” • “Tim came within an ace of losing the election.” • “John was within an inch of drowning before he was pulled out of the water.” • “We came within an ace of victory.”
OED 4.0:
c.3.c within an ace of: On the very point of, within a hair's breadth of.
a 1704 T. Brown Lett. Wks. 1730 I. 184, I was within an ace of being talked to death. 1711 Pope Lett. (1736) V. 112, I was within an ace of meeting you. 1824 W. Irving Tales of Trav. II. 43, I came within an ace of making my fortune. 1880 Manch. Guardian Oct. 30, A conspiracy to restore the Throne, was within an ace of being carried into execution.
BRITISH NATIONAL CORPUS (Mark Davies / Brigham Young University) gives the following examples:
...asked as calmly as if they had been discussing the weather and not within an ace of making either love or war. "It's time we left for the
...know , though how she didn't know, that she had been within an ace of responding to him. Leith swallowed hard, and knew, before the weakness...
...blunted my edges and did my head in. Once, I came within an ace of the end on the stern of a North Sea ferry, when some half-cut...
...ARC ACHE! User Friendly pipped on post CHARLES FAWCUS USER FRIENDLY came within an ace of a French fortune yesterday as the Arc was snatched away from her in the shadow...
...plane flipped upside down FRANK CORLESS/NIC NORTH LESTER Piggott and three other jockeys came within an ace of death yesterday when an RAF jet missed their plane by just six feet.
Barry Lucas Dagenham 4, L Orient 5. DAGENHAM and Redbridge went within an ace of upsetting their Second Division neighbours Orient in the FA Cup, eventually going down
...the existence of Israel was the most potent manifestation. Arab nationalism came within an ace of overthrowing King Husayn in Jordan, and the latter's acceptance of UNRWA's...
...so content. The question is all the more pointed now that Europe is within an ace of having its Maastricht Treaty; the British government now seems confident of winning assent...
...roughly , in the region of, hard on, well nigh, within an ace of, and say (as in £10, say). In scientific reports...
...with Dolle I felt myself becoming a punk mafia dude. I came within an ace of slapping her around. She was all soft and loose and self-indulgent.
...longest-serving member of the playing staff, having helped our favourites to rise within an ace of the Southern League championship and become an established and respected club. Harry Collyer...
...was our skipper that we had our best Southern League season and went within an ace of winning the Championship in 1914. Honoured by the Southern League, Harry was...
3. An ace in the hole
If you have the ace in your hand, you have something which you can use to gain an advantage when you need it. In ‘stud’ poker, you have an ace in the hole when you have an ace as your ‘hole’ card. The CCDI doesn’t mark it as either British or American but I think it’s mostly American. It means literally козырь в чьих-либо руках and figuratively преимущество (advantage of any sort).
The examples in CCDI:
The defendant was intent on murder and he came within an ace of succeeding. • She had just watched her hero come within an ace of a place in the quarter finals, only to lose his grip on the game. • Above all, however, your solar chart now signifies that you are within an ace of solving a joint financial or business problem.
Babylon English-English says that it’s “something that can be saved and used as an advantage later”. Other Babylon dictionaries say that it’s “an effective and decisive argument or resource held in reserve”, “an effective and decisive argument or resource held in reserve”, “1. скрытое преимущество; «козырь» про запас; 2. друг, на которого можно положиться в трудную минуту”, “a hidden strength or talent”, “a hidden advantage or secret source of power”, “something that can supply a sure victory when revealed”, “a secret or extra asset to assure success, referring to the ace playing card a player has as a hole card (or face down card) in a game of stud poker” (Wiki). This only example in Babylon is “Sam's ace in the hole is honesty, which his clients soon discover.”
Lingvo again proves a richer source of usage examples:
It was quite clear to Truman now that he had, as he would later say, "an ace in the hole... " That is to say, the ace in the hole was an atomic bomb. — Трумэну было совершенно ясно, что теперь у него есть, как он позже выразится, "козырь в рукаве..." Этим "козырем" была атомная бомба. The twenty dollar bill was my ace in the hole — Я оставил двадцать баксов на самый пожарный случай. When it comes to the crunch that information can serve as my ace in the hole — В критический момент эта информация могла послужить в качестве решающего аргумента.
When the cowboy bet all his money in the poker game he did not know that the gambler had an ace in the hole and would win it from him. The football team has a new play that they are keeping as an ace in the hole for the big game. The lawyer's ace in the hole was a secret witness who saw the accident.
BNC has but four examples, which proves that it’s essentially an American expression:
...glad. She put her head on the table and wept. Jay with no ace in the hole . Death Row. No stay of execution. She heard Lucy...
...of ways I could imagine. I wadded one into my shoulder holster as an ace in the hole , packing it down with the gun. Then I made a
Agnes said thoughtfully: "That boy's no fool, keeping a nice big ace in the hole in case Six won't play ball. No fool at all."
...choice is the most important thing in any kind of solo. That's your ace in the hole ; the more you concentrate on note choice, the more quality...
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