stand pat
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.19 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "With a mixed hand and the highest card the curse of Scotland, I've seen that man stand pat in a game with four millionaire mining men."
- "After getting a hand of 20, the player stood pat."
- "China has cut rates and allowed banks to boost lending, while some countries, such as South Korea have stood pat, fearful that inflation pressures could reignite."
Etymology
Probably originally a poker phrase, with "pat" equaling "optimal", meaning that drawing more cards is unnecessary. Later the phrase came to be employed in other spheres. "Stand pat" was actively used in U.S. political campaigns of the 1900s, quickly gaining a sense of "being reactionary, resistant to dramatic changes in policy". Moreover, a noun, standpatter, was coined to denote such politicians.