"keep a lid on" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> a lid on"
      },
      "expansion": "keep a lid on (third-person singular simple present keeps a lid on, present participle keeping a lid on, simple past and past participle kept a lid on)",
      "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"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's supposed to be a surprise, so try to keep a lid on it, will you?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "If he was listening to the England fans who gathered and sang non-stop late into the Moscow night behind the goal in the Spartak Stadium, it may have dawned on him that keeping a lid on expectations is likely to be a losing battle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep something secret."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_a_lid_on-en-verb-08ZhfRuH",
      "links": [
        [
          "secret",
          "secret"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, imperative) To keep something secret."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "under wraps"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "imperative"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "keep something secret",
          "word": "držet pod pokličkou"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "keep something secret",
          "word": "unter Verschluss halten"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "keep something secret",
          "word": "geheim halten"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep a lid on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep a lid on"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept a lid on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> a lid on"
      },
      "expansion": "keep a lid on (third-person singular simple present keeps a lid on, present participle keeping a lid on, simple past and past participle kept a lid on)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "under wraps"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's supposed to be a surprise, so try to keep a lid on it, will you?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "If he was listening to the England fans who gathered and sang non-stop late into the Moscow night behind the goal in the Spartak Stadium, it may have dawned on him that keeping a lid on expectations is likely to be a losing battle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep something secret."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "secret",
          "secret"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, imperative) To keep something secret."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "imperative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep a lid on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-au-keep_a_lid_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "keep something secret",
      "word": "držet pod pokličkou"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "keep something secret",
      "word": "unter Verschluss halten"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "keep something secret",
      "word": "geheim halten"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep a lid on"
}