three-sheet
verb1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Theater To exaggerate, hype up, or show off.
- Now I don't think a man ought to be a spendthrift in order to be a good fellow, but a ball player getting four thousand a year shouldn't three-sheet himself every time he lets go of a quarter.1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post:
- The Ballet Theatre surprised everybody. This top-heavy art trust, three-sheeted as “the greatest collaboration in ballet history,” functioned prodigiously through a long three weeks' sprint.1939, Modern Music, volumes 17-18, page 187:
2 more examples
- The leading man often wore a blond wig in some parts, and his entrance through the center door was a studied art, surpassed only by his "three-sheeting" ability in front of the post office at mail time.1972, William L. Slout, Theatre in a Tent:
- […] where he could afford the best seats in the theater, and where the stories thrilled him to the core, and the sentiments of the characters could be understood and approved by every true-born Englishman, where the actors tore their lungs and three-sheeted their passions for his exclusive benefit.1973, N. Allardyce, British Drama, page 277: