"keep one's cards close to one's chest" meaning in English

See keep one's cards close to one's chest in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-keep one's cards close to one's chest.ogg Forms: keeps one's cards close to one's chest [present, singular, third-person], keeping one's cards close to one's chest [participle, present], kept one's cards close to one's chest [participle, past], kept one's cards close to one's chest [past]
Etymology: Because playing cards kept close to one's chest are difficult to see for an opposing player. Head templates: {{en-verb|keep<,,kept> one's cards close to one's chest}} keep one's cards close to one's chest (third-person singular simple present keeps one's cards close to one's chest, present participle keeping one's cards close to one's chest, simple past and past participle kept one's cards close to one's chest)
  1. (idiomatic) To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: keep one's counsel, chest one's cards Related terms: hide the ball Translations (Translations): salailla (Finnish), pitää korttinsa piilossa (Finnish), cacher son jeu (French), sich nicht in die Karten schauen lassen (German), nie odkrywać kart [imperfective] (Polish), nie odkryć kart [perfective] (Polish), no soltar prenda (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Because playing cards kept close to one's chest are difficult to see for an opposing player.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's cards close to one's chest"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's cards close to one's chest (third-person singular simple present keeps one's cards close to one's chest, present participle keeping one's cards close to one's chest, simple past and past participle kept one's cards close to one's chest)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Sabine Rewald, “Balthus's Magic Mountain”, in The Burlington Magazine, volume 139, number 1134, page 626:",
          "text": "Balthus has always kept his cards close to his chest. When I asked him if Summertime was a transcription of Poussin's Echo and Narcissus—a variant of his lost copy—he did not reply.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 December 25, Anil Netto, “Malaysia: Year of surprises and hardships”, in Asia Times, retrieved 2008-10-25:",
          "text": "Abdullah has not yet revealed his choice for the No 2 post when he takes over as prime minister, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 June 28, Ben Jones, “Are we getting rid of our (still useful) rolling stock too early?”, in RAIL, number 986, page 29:",
          "text": "However, the operator is keeping its cards close to its chest.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_one's_cards_close_to_one's_chest-en-verb-taYjB9aI",
      "links": [
        [
          "reveal",
          "reveal"
        ],
        [
          "thought",
          "thought"
        ],
        [
          "circumstance",
          "circumstance"
        ],
        [
          "plan",
          "plan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "hide the ball"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "keep one's counsel"
        },
        {
          "word": "chest one's cards"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "salailla"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "pitää korttinsa piilossa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "cacher son jeu"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "sich nicht in die Karten schauen lassen"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "nie odkrywać kart"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "nie odkryć kart"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "no soltar prenda"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep one's cards close to one's chest.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's cards close to one's chest"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Because playing cards kept close to one's chest are difficult to see for an opposing player.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's cards close to one's chest",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's cards close to one's chest"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's cards close to one's chest (third-person singular simple present keeps one's cards close to one's chest, present participle keeping one's cards close to one's chest, simple past and past participle kept one's cards close to one's chest)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hide the ball"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Sabine Rewald, “Balthus's Magic Mountain”, in The Burlington Magazine, volume 139, number 1134, page 626:",
          "text": "Balthus has always kept his cards close to his chest. When I asked him if Summertime was a transcription of Poussin's Echo and Narcissus—a variant of his lost copy—he did not reply.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 December 25, Anil Netto, “Malaysia: Year of surprises and hardships”, in Asia Times, retrieved 2008-10-25:",
          "text": "Abdullah has not yet revealed his choice for the No 2 post when he takes over as prime minister, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 June 28, Ben Jones, “Are we getting rid of our (still useful) rolling stock too early?”, in RAIL, number 986, page 29:",
          "text": "However, the operator is keeping its cards close to its chest.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reveal",
          "reveal"
        ],
        [
          "thought",
          "thought"
        ],
        [
          "circumstance",
          "circumstance"
        ],
        [
          "plan",
          "plan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "keep one's counsel"
        },
        {
          "word": "chest one's cards"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep one's cards close to one's chest.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/En-au-keep_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "salailla"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "pitää korttinsa piilossa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "cacher son jeu"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "sich nicht in die Karten schauen lassen"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "nie odkrywać kart"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "nie odkryć kart"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "no soltar prenda"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's cards close to one's chest"
}

Download raw JSONL data for keep one's cards close to one's chest meaning in English (3.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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