Search Results for 'keep'
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Keep your chin upThis expression is used to tell someone to have confidence.
Keep your powder dry
If you keep your powder dry, you act cautiously so as not to damage your chances.
Keep the wolf at bay
If you keep the wolf at bay, you make enough money to avoid going hungry or falling heavily into debt.
Keep your eyes peeled
If you keep your eyes peeled, you stay alert or watchful.
Keep it under your hat
If you keep something under your hat, you keep it secret.
Keep up with the Joneses
People who try to keep up with the Joneses are competitive about material possessions and always try to have the latest and best things.
Keep your fingers crossed
If you are keeping your fingers crossed, you are hoping for a positive outcome.
Keep your eye on the prize
This means that you should keep your focus on achieving a positive end result.
Keep someone at arm's length
If you keep someone or something at arm's length, you keep a safe distance away from them.
Keep your nose to the grindstone
If you keep your nose to the grindstone, you work hard and seriously.
Play for keeps
If you are playing for keeps, you take things very seriously and the outcome is very important to you; it is not a mere game.
A still tongue keeps a wise head
Wise people don't talk much.
Chop and change
If things chop and change, they keep changing, often unexpectedly.
Button your lip
If you button your lip, you keep quiet and don't speak. It is also used as a way of telling someone to shut up.
Cook the books
If people cook the books, they keep false accounts to make money illegally or avoid paying tax.
Clean hands
Someone with clean hands, or who keeps their hands clean, is not involved in illegal or immoral activities.
Man of his word
A man of his word is a person who does what he says and keeps his promises.
Mum's the word
When people use this idiom, they mean that you should keep quiet about something and not tell other people.
Between you and me and the cat's whiskers
This idiom is used when telling someone something that you want them to keep secret.
Off the track
If something puts or throws you off your track, it distracts you or keeps you from achieving what you want.
Zip your lip
If someone tells you to zip your lip, they want to to shut up or keep quiet about something. ('Zip it' is also used.)
Run rings around someone
If you run rings around someone, you are so much better than them that they have no chance of keeping up with you.
Bite your lip
If you have to bite your lip, you have to make a conscious effort not to react or to keep quiet about something that displeases you.
Out of your hair
If you get someone out of your hair, you get them to stop bothering or annoying you. ('Stay/keep/get out of my hair!' can be used as imperatives)
Clean sheet
When someone has a clean sheet, they have got no criminal record or problems affecting their reputation. In football and other sports, a goalkeeper has a clean sheet when let no goals in.
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