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For anyone who's ever wondered where the term came from, from Merriam-Webster word of the day.
sandbag
\SAND-bag\
verb
Meaning
1 : to bank, stop up, or weight with sandbags
2 : to hit or stun with or as if with a sandbag b : to treat unfairly or harshly
*3 : to conceal or misrepresent one's true position, potential, or intent especially in order to take advantage of
Example Sentence
Shortly after agreeing to place a wager on the match, I realized I had been sandbagged and was clearly outmatched by my opponent.
See a map of "sandbag" in the Visual Thesaurus.
Did you know?
In the 19th century, the verb "sandbag" began to be used to describe the act of bludgeoning someone with a small, sand-filled bag — a tactic employed by ruffians, usually as a prelude to robbing their victims. The verb went on to develop metaphorical extensions, such as "to coerce by crude means." By the 1940s, it was being used of a strategy in which a poker player with a good hand bets weakly, in order to draw other players into holding on to their hands and raising the bet. The use of "sandbag" has since evolved to refer to a general strategy of playing down one's position in order to gain some sort of advantage.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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sandbag
\SAND-bag\
verb
Meaning
1 : to bank, stop up, or weight with sandbags
2 : to hit or stun with or as if with a sandbag b : to treat unfairly or harshly
*3 : to conceal or misrepresent one's true position, potential, or intent especially in order to take advantage of
Example Sentence
Shortly after agreeing to place a wager on the match, I realized I had been sandbagged and was clearly outmatched by my opponent.
See a map of "sandbag" in the Visual Thesaurus.
Did you know?
In the 19th century, the verb "sandbag" began to be used to describe the act of bludgeoning someone with a small, sand-filled bag — a tactic employed by ruffians, usually as a prelude to robbing their victims. The verb went on to develop metaphorical extensions, such as "to coerce by crude means." By the 1940s, it was being used of a strategy in which a poker player with a good hand bets weakly, in order to draw other players into holding on to their hands and raising the bet. The use of "sandbag" has since evolved to refer to a general strategy of playing down one's position in order to gain some sort of advantage.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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