Roll Up Your Sleeves: What Does It Mean? The phrase roll up your sleeves is an idiom that means to prepare yourself to get to workespecially for something challenging, demanding, have another card up your sleeve have another card up your sleeve LDOCE HAVE A CARD UP YOUR SLEEVE Cambridge English Dictionary card up sleeve Meaning Definition To have a "card up your sleeve" means to have a secret plan or advantage that you can use when needed, something you're keeping hidden until