"keep one's powder dry" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From the maxim \"Trust in God and keep your powder dry\", attributed to Oliver Cromwell; in the days of muskets, soldiers needed to keep their bags of gunpowder dry so they could load their guns at short notice.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's powder dry"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's powder dry (third-person singular simple present keeps one's powder dry, present participle keeping one's powder dry, simple past and past participle kept one's powder dry)",
      "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": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1904, John Morley, Hansard:",
          "text": "...events now happening, which, beyond almost any set of circumstances which have arisen in our recent history, impose the necessity on Great Britain, at all events, of keeping her powder dry, and of keeping her resources in steadfast charge.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Noah Feldman, \"Alito's Day in Court\", BloombergView",
          "text": "He’d for the most part refrained from any dramatic concurrences or dissents -- as though keeping his powder dry for Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the biggest religious-liberty decision in years."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hold back on action until a future time; to save one's resources in case of emergency."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_one's_powder_dry-en-verb-P5YxQUKL",
      "links": [
        [
          "hold back",
          "hold back"
        ],
        [
          "resource",
          "resource"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "dry powder"
        },
        {
          "word": "powder keg"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "keep the powder dry"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Trust in God and keep your powder dry"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's powder dry"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From the maxim \"Trust in God and keep your powder dry\", attributed to Oliver Cromwell; in the days of muskets, soldiers needed to keep their bags of gunpowder dry so they could load their guns at short notice.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's powder dry",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> one's powder dry"
      },
      "expansion": "keep one's powder dry (third-person singular simple present keeps one's powder dry, present participle keeping one's powder dry, simple past and past participle kept one's powder dry)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "dry powder"
    },
    {
      "word": "powder keg"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1904, John Morley, Hansard:",
          "text": "...events now happening, which, beyond almost any set of circumstances which have arisen in our recent history, impose the necessity on Great Britain, at all events, of keeping her powder dry, and of keeping her resources in steadfast charge.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Noah Feldman, \"Alito's Day in Court\", BloombergView",
          "text": "He’d for the most part refrained from any dramatic concurrences or dissents -- as though keeping his powder dry for Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the biggest religious-liberty decision in years."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To hold back on action until a future time; to save one's resources in case of emergency."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hold back",
          "hold back"
        ],
        [
          "resource",
          "resource"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Trust in God and keep your powder dry"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "keep the powder dry"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep one's powder dry"
}