"keep it in the family" meaning in English

See keep it in the family in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: keeps it in the family [present, singular, third-person], keeping it in the family [participle, present], kept it in the family [participle, past], kept it in the family [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|keeps it in the family|keeping it in the family|kept it in the family|kept it in the family}} keep it in the family (third-person singular simple present keeps it in the family, present participle keeping it in the family, simple past and past participle kept it in the family)
  1. (idiomatic) To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-keep_it_in_the_family-en-verb-en:keep_quiet_about_it
  2. (idiomatic) To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: closely held, family business, on the down-low
    Sense id: en-keep_it_in_the_family-en-verb-en:maintain_loyalty_or_ownership Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with placeholder "it", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 84 Disambiguation of English terms with placeholder "it": 33 67 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 17 83 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 16 84

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keeps it in the family",
        "2": "keeping it in the family",
        "3": "kept it in the family",
        "4": "kept it in the family"
      },
      "expansion": "keep it in the family (third-person singular simple present keeps it in the family, present participle keeping it in the family, simple past and past participle kept it in the family)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: keep one's own counsel, keep one's mouth shut, STFU; see also Thesaurus:be quiet"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_it_in_the_family-en-verb-en:keep_quiet_about_it",
      "links": [
        [
          "restrict",
          "restrict"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ],
        [
          "intimate",
          "intimate"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:keep quiet about it"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_it_in_the_family-en-verb-en:maintain_loyalty_or_ownership",
      "links": [
        [
          "remain",
          "remain"
        ],
        [
          "loyal",
          "loyal"
        ],
        [
          "retain",
          "retain"
        ],
        [
          "ownership",
          "ownership"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "period of time",
          "period of time"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "30 70",
          "word": "closely held"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 70",
          "word": "family business"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "30 70",
          "word": "on the down-low"
        }
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:maintain loyalty or ownership"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep it in the family"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept it in the family",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keeps it in the family",
        "2": "keeping it in the family",
        "3": "kept it in the family",
        "4": "kept it in the family"
      },
      "expansion": "keep it in the family (third-person singular simple present keeps it in the family, present participle keeping it in the family, simple past and past participle kept it in the family)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "closely held"
    },
    {
      "word": "family business"
    },
    {
      "word": "on the down-low"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: keep one's own counsel, keep one's mouth shut, STFU; see also Thesaurus:be quiet"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "restrict",
          "restrict"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ],
        [
          "intimate",
          "intimate"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:keep quiet about it"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "remain",
          "remain"
        ],
        [
          "loyal",
          "loyal"
        ],
        [
          "retain",
          "retain"
        ],
        [
          "ownership",
          "ownership"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "period of time",
          "period of time"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:maintain loyalty or ownership"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep it in the family"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.