lift the lid
(intransitive) (chiefly, UK, informal, figuratively) To reveal or expose something, especially information.
Definitions
(intransitive) (chiefly, UK, informal, figuratively) To reveal or expose something, especially information.
“Prince Harry may have longed for a reunion with his father during the King’s high-profile visit to the US last week – but a source has said it remains “impossible” due to concerns he and wife Meghan would lift the lid on any private discussions.”
In the 10 months since the Romanian revolution lifted the lid off Transylvania's ancient national rivalries, the Romanians and Hungarians who have shared this land for centuries have been living in a state of tense alert, ready for the n…
“Prince Harry may have longed for a reunion with his father during the King’s high-profile visit to the US last week – but a source has said it remains “impossible” due to concerns he and wife Meghan would lift the lid on any private discussions.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- lid-lifter71%
Sports slang for the opening game of a season, tournament, or competition — the event that 'lifts the lid' and officially kicks things off. The metaphor suggests the excitement of opening something up: once the lid comes off, the whole season spills out. Used in American sports journalism and broadcasting, particularly for baseball and hockey season openers, where the first game of the year carries outsized emotional weight after months of offseason waiting.
- take up66%
(transitive) To lift; to raise.
- car-lifting65%
Indian English slang for stealing a car — basically grand theft auto in casual everyday language. The term is widely used in Indian news reports, crime dramas, and casual conversation as a shorthand for vehicle theft. 'Lifting' here borrows the general slang sense of stealing (like shoplifting), applied specifically to cars. It's so embedded in Indian English that it shows up in official police records and newspaper headlines without any sense of irony.
- lid-lifter65%
(sports, slang) The first game played.
- lid63%
(slang) A cap or hat.