Stack the deck refers literally to cards, where a person might cheat by secretly arranging, or ‘stacking’ the cards in a way that would cause them to be dealt a better hand than other players.
Meaning of Idiom ‘Stack the Deck’
To stack the deck means to arrange things so that a person or group is given an unfair advantage or disadvantage. 1,2
Also used: play with a stacked deck
See related idiom: cards are stacked against
Sentence Examples
“Dark money interests have stacked the deck in American politics for decades.”
“We can’t seem to make any progress. It seems someone is stacking the deck.”
“You only got this job because your mother stacked the deck in your favor.”
Origin
In regards to card games, the phrase entered English during the early 1800s. The practice is described in The Frauds of America: How They Work and how to Foil Them, by E.G. Redmond (1896):
To explain all the swindling tricks with cards would take a formidable book. The favorite method is to “stack” the deck- that is, to arrange the cards in such a manner by a quick movement in shuffling, so that the dealer shall receive a better hand than his opponent.
An early example of its use as an idiom is from The Pacific Monthly, 1906:
We are reliably informed that the Czar feels toward the Duma as a hen does toward her brood when she discovers that someone has stacked the deck on her by giving her duck eggs. 3
More Cards Idioms
- Cards Are Stacked Against
- Put All Your Cards On the Table
- Pass The Buck
- Hold All the Cards
- Hold All The Aces
- Chip In, to
- Call Someone’s Bluff
- Ace Up Your Sleeve, an
References
- Spears, Richard A. McGraw-Hill’s American Idioms Dictionary. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
- Bengelsdorf, Peter. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012.