sandbag

From sand +‎ bag.

sandbag (plural sandbags)

1. A sturdy sack filled with sand, generally used in large numbers to make defensive walls against flooding, bullets, or shrapnel.
2. A small bag filled with sand and used as a cudgel.
3. An engraver's leather cushion, etc.
4. (poker) A deceptive play whereby a player with a strong hand bets weakly or passively.

sandbag (third-person singular simple present sandbags, present participle sandbagging, simple past and past participle sandbagged)

1. (transitive) To construct a barrier of sandbags around.

   We sandbagged the basement windows against the floodwaters.

2. (transitive) To strike someone with a sandbag or other object to disable or render unconscious.
3. To conceal or misrepresent one's true position, potential, or intent in order to gain an advantage.
   • 1976, Cycle World Magazine (volume 15, numbers 1 & 2, page 83)

     Some felt that Roberts was sandbagging, because his mastery of the 250s wasn't really showing in practice or the heat.

   • 2016 May 16, Zach Baron, “Why Shane Black's The Nice Guys Was 15 Years in the Making”, in GQ:

     [Shane Black:] And keep in mind, I got sandbagged by this one reporter in like 1999 or 2000. He said, "I'm a big fan of your work; I'd love to do a story on you." And after he had interviewed me, he said, "Oh, by the way, I'm going to kind of crunch your words together to make it look like you're talking. I'll sort of take my voice out of it." And it turns out the article is called “Letters from Oblivion” and it was basically about has-beens. But because he was able to put it in my own words it sounded like I was complicit in the article. Like, "As a has-been, here's what I'd like to say about it."

   1. (transitive) To deceive someone by pretending to be weak, or (card games) by pretending to have a weak hand.
   2. To pretend to drink early on so that, as the night draws on, one can drink everybody else "under the table".

• sandbag at OneLook Dictionary Search

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