mark (one's) card

(redirected from mark their card)

mark (one's) card

To give someone pertinent information about something or someone else; to tip someone off. Shortly after I started, one of my co-workers marked my card about the boss's tendency to give very harsh criticism.

mark someone's card

give someone information. informal

This idiom, which dates from the mid 20th century, derives from the world of horse racing. The card is a race card , the list of runners at a race meeting, so to mark someone's card is to give them tips for possible winners.

See also: card, mark

References in periodicals archive ?

And they must deflect the efforts of those unsportsmanlike players who would mark their cards.

Cellulose Acetate: The Dealer's Choice

Since 1997, the NIGC and the Justice Department have insisted that players of our interactive electronic bingo games must interactively daub their numbers when called, to mark their cards and claim their prize.

MGAM Signs Agreement With Lac Vieux Desert Chippewa Tribe

THE way bingo players mark their cards can tell a lot about their personality, according to new research.

WHAT A BINGO CARD CAN SAY ABOUT YOU

A caller would pull numbered discs from a cigar box, and players would mark their cards with dried beans, yelling "Beano