To speak by the card

to speak from information and definitely, not by guess as in telling a ship's bearing by the compass card.

See also: Card

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

Mentioned in

candidness

References in classic literature

At any rate, it was more like a hearse than any thing else, though to speak by the card, it was a gondola.

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