in pettoadv.
/ˌɪn ˈpɛtəʊ/, U.S. /ˌɪn ˈpɛdoʊ/ 1. Privately, in a person's mind or heart; in secret. Also: in reserve.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > [adverb]
stillyc1000
dernlyc1175
dernea1200
privement?c1225
hidlingsa1250
in hidela1300
in scubardisa1300
stilla1300
hidel-likea1325
privyc1330
ywryȝeliche1340
in secre wysec1374
hidinglya1382
hidlya1382
in privy1384
closea1387
secrelyc1386
stalworthlya1400
covertlyc1400
secrec1405
in hidlings1422
secretly1447
secretementc1470
in secret1474
hugger-muggera1529
in hugger-mugger1529
secret1539
underboard1548
closely1552
darkly1559
in secret wise1563
hiddenly1580
tectly1587
underwater1600
concealedly1622
underground1632
occultly1641
in petto1647
under the rosea1704
subterraneously1791
suppressedly1825
underfoot1860
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > privacy > [adverb] > out of public view
out of the way1554
behind the curtain1677
in pectore1679
in petto1712
behind the scenes1841
in (or into, out of) purdah1912
offstage1959
1647 Moderate Intelligencer No. 138. 1362 There being no more Places vacant in the sacred Colledge, after that the seventh (reserved in petto) hath been nominated by his Holyship.
1701 J. Swift Disc. Contests Nobles & Commons 11 They will nourish up a dormant power, and reserve Privileges in petto, to exert upon occasions, to serve expedientes, and to urge upon necessities.
1712 S. Sewall Diary 29 Feb. (1973) II. 681 I ask'd the Govr to take a Copy of it: He said No, It should remain yet in Petto..and put it in his Pocket.
1772 Hartford Mercury 18 Sept. His Majesty nominated some new Counsellors and Senators, declaring..that he kept two in petto.
1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. iii. 76 The poison of jealousy..I had long kept it in petto as my ultimate remedy.
1879 H. James Confidence I. xvii. 267 Bernard had ventured to observe, in petto, that Gordon knew nothing about it.
1924 Amer. Mercury Apr. 505/1 When she departs from that oath in the slightest way, if only in petto, she deserves to be handed over to the American Legion for punishment according to its chivalrous rites.
1983 L. Murray People's Otherworld 28 Some decry it as criminal presumption, silken-robed Pope Alexander Dividing the new world between Spain and Portugal. If he smiled in petto afterwards, perhaps the thing did have sprawl.
2. In miniature, on a small scale; in short.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [phrase] > on a small scale
in little1604
in parvo1676
in miniature1700
in small1765
in pettoa1846
small-scale1852
in diminutive-
a1846 B. R. Haydon Autobiogr. (1853) I. 247 Away we marched, my little guide wearing a red night-cap..till we came in sight of the height, when my grenadier in petto turned round.
1894 W. S. Hadley Euripides' Hecuba p. x The effect thus produced within the compass of a single play is comparable to that brought about on a larger scale by the older trilogy... This trilogy in petto may be regarded as an experiment made by the youngest of the three great tragedians.
1901 R. Kipling Kim xiii. 341 He represents in petto India in transition—the monstrous hybridism of East and West.
1979 Country Life 29 Mar. 947/4 In small (or, as people now cheerfully and wrongly say, in petto).
1998 T. Bridgeman Negotiating New in French Novel viii. 187 The second is that most ‘mise en abymes’ in language are not true microcosms, reproductions in petto of a macrocosm.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1647