face card

face card

1. A playing card that has a picture of a person (such as a king, queen, or jack) on it, as opposed to one of the numeral cards. The face cards are more valuable than any of the cards you're holding. A: "Man, I was hoping to be dealt a face card." B: "Yeah, don't tell me that. You need to be able to bluff when you're playing poker, kid." I got really lucky to not only get four face cards, but all four queens!

2. An important or powerful (and, possibly, conceited) person. You can't park here—these spots are for face cards only. I thought the new CEO would be a total face card, but maybe not if he took that giant cardboard cutout of himself out of the lobby. As soon as that guy became a manager, he also became a face card, pushing people around and calling down here for every possible favor.

See also: card, face

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

face card

n. an important person; a self-important person. (As with the royal characters in playing cards.) Who’s the face card getting out of the benz?

See also: card, face

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.