"keep one's mouth shut" meaning in English

See keep one's mouth shut in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-keep one's mouth shut.ogg [Australia] Forms: keeps one's mouth shut [present, singular, third-person], keeping one's mouth shut [participle, present], kept one's mouth shut [participle, past], kept one's mouth shut [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|keep<,,kept> one's mouth shut}} keep one's mouth shut (third-person singular simple present keeps one's mouth shut, present participle keeping one's mouth shut, simple past and past participle kept one's mouth shut)
  1. (idiomatic) To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: keep one's lips sealed, keep one's own counsel Translations (Translations): holde kæft (Danish), pitää suunsa kiinni (Finnish), pitää suu kiinni (Finnish), tenere la bocca chiusa (Italian), trzymać buzię na kłódkę [imperfective] (Polish), держа́ть язы́к за зуба́ми (deržátʹ jazýk za zubámi) [imperfective] (Russian), hålla käften (Swedish), hålla käft (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-keep_one's_mouth_shut-en-verb-qwOC8406 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for keep one's mouth shut meaning in English (3.3kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's mouth shut"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's mouth shut (third-person singular simple present keeps one's mouth shut, present participle keeping one's mouth shut, simple past and past participle kept one's mouth shut)",
      "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": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 November 23, Alan Cowell, “Charles Joins Fray Over Himself”, in New York Times, retrieved 2008-10-25",
          "text": "Charles has failed to follow the example of his mother, the queen, who has heroically kept her mouth shut for more than 50 years.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 May 23, Emma Farge, “Russian diplomat in Switzerland says he resigns over Ukraine invasion”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-26, Europe",
          "text": "He said he had raised his concerns about the invasion with senior embassy staff several times. \"I was told to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid ramifications,\" he said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_one's_mouth_shut-en-verb-qwOC8406",
      "links": [
        [
          "secret",
          "secret"
        ],
        [
          "refrain",
          "refrain"
        ],
        [
          "indiscreet",
          "indiscreet"
        ],
        [
          "careless",
          "careless"
        ],
        [
          "altogether",
          "altogether"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "keep one's lips sealed"
        },
        {
          "word": "keep one's own counsel"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "holde kæft"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "pitää suunsa kiinni"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "pitää suu kiinni"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "tenere la bocca chiusa"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "trzymać buzię na kłódkę"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "deržátʹ jazýk za zubámi",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "держа́ть язы́к за зуба́ми"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "hålla käften"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "hålla käft"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep one's mouth shut.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ee/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's mouth shut"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's mouth shut",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's mouth shut"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's mouth shut (third-person singular simple present keeps one's mouth shut, present participle keeping one's mouth shut, simple past and past participle kept one's mouth shut)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "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",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 November 23, Alan Cowell, “Charles Joins Fray Over Himself”, in New York Times, retrieved 2008-10-25",
          "text": "Charles has failed to follow the example of his mother, the queen, who has heroically kept her mouth shut for more than 50 years.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 May 23, Emma Farge, “Russian diplomat in Switzerland says he resigns over Ukraine invasion”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-26, Europe",
          "text": "He said he had raised his concerns about the invasion with senior embassy staff several times. \"I was told to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid ramifications,\" he said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "secret",
          "secret"
        ],
        [
          "refrain",
          "refrain"
        ],
        [
          "indiscreet",
          "indiscreet"
        ],
        [
          "careless",
          "careless"
        ],
        [
          "altogether",
          "altogether"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep one's mouth shut.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ee/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/En-au-keep_one%27s_mouth_shut.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "keep one's lips sealed"
    },
    {
      "word": "keep one's own counsel"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "holde kæft"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "pitää suunsa kiinni"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "pitää suu kiinni"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "tenere la bocca chiusa"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "trzymać buzię na kłódkę"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "deržátʹ jazýk za zubámi",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "держа́ть язы́к за зуба́ми"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "hålla käften"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "hålla käft"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's mouth shut"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.