Graves

Related to Graves: Graves disease, Robert Graves, Graves wine

carry a secret to (one's)/the grave

To keep (not reveal) a secret for the duration of one's life. I can't believe that Grandma carried such a huge family secret to her grave! If Uncle Joe hadn't blurted it out, we'd never have known about it! Oh, Emily is a loyal friend—she would definitely carry a secret to the grave.
See also: carry, grave, secret

dig (one's) own grave

To do something that has or will have negative consequences that are easily able to be foreseen. If you don't turn in your project, you're digging your own grave. There's no way you'll get a decent grade without it! I'm afraid I'm digging my own grave by turning down the promotion.
See also: dig, grave, own

go to (one's) grave

To die. I'm just worried that you'll go to your grave angry at your sister.
See also: go, grave

make (one) turn over in (one's) grave

Figuratively, to upset someone who is dead and buried. The way you dress would make your grandmother turn over in her grave.
See also: grave, make, over, turn

roll (over) in (one's) grave

To (hypothetically) show enormous anger, disfavor, or regret for something that happens after one has died. (That is, if someone were still alive, they would be greatly upset, angered, or disgusted by what has happened.) I can't believe you're using our employees' pension payments to prop up a Ponzi scheme. The founder of this once-great company would be rolling in his grave to see its directors stoop so low. Your poor mother would roll over in her grave if she heard the horrible things you were saying about your sister. I can't believe you wrecked your grandfather's prized vintage Ford Mustang. That's enough to make him roll over in his grave!
See also: grave, roll

swear on (one's) mother's grave

To make a very serious, solemn pledge, especially that one is telling the truth. Janet has sworn on her mother's grave that she wasn't the one to betray me, and I believe her. I swear on my mother's grave that if I have a chance to help your campaign, I will.
See also: grave, on, swear

take (something) to the grave

To not reveal or share some secret until the day one dies. My grandmother took the affair to her grave. We only found out about it because the man she'd been seeing so many years ago showed up to her funeral! A: "Please, don't tell anyone what I told you today!" B: "I swear, I'll take it to the grave." The company use extreme non-disclosure agreements to ensure all employees take its research to the grave.
See also: grave, take

take a/the secret to (one's)/the grave

To not reveal a secret for the duration of one's life. I can't believe that grandma took such a huge family secret to her grave! If Uncle Joe hadn't blurted it out, we'd never have known about it! Oh, Emily is a loyal friend—she would definitely take the secret to the grave.
See also: grave, secret, take

turn (over) in (one's) grave

To (hypothetically) show enormous anger, disfavor, or regret for someone's actions or something that happens after one has died. That is, if someone were still alive, they would be greatly upset, angered, or disgusted by what has happened. I can't believe you're using our employees' pension payments to prop up a Ponzi scheme. The founder of this once-great company would be turning in his grave to see its directors stoop so low. Your poor mother would turn over in her grave if she heard the horrible things you were saying about your sister. I can't believe you wrecked your grandfather's prized truck. That's enough to make him turn over in his grave!
See also: grave, turn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • carry a secret to (one's)/the grave
  • carry a secret to the grave
  • take a/the secret to (one's)/the grave
  • take the secret to the grave
  • the cat is out of the bag
  • won't breathe a word
  • not breathe a word
  • not breathe a word (of something)
  • in secret
  • mifky-pifky
References in classic literature
'"The grave, Sir; making the grave," stammered the sexton.
Slowly and peacefully, the father sank into the grave, and, soon after, the sharer of all his cares and troubles followed him to a place of rest.
The stone on which he had first seen the goblin seated, stood bolt upright before him, and the grave at which he had worked, the night before, was not far off.
The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club
He ended the anthem, as he had commenced it, in the midst of a grave and solemn stillness.
Then came a procession like the other, and the whole nation was collected about the temporary grave of the chief-- temporary, because it was proper that, at some future day, his bones should rest among those of this own people.
The same grave expression of grief, the same rigid silence, and the same deference to the principal mourner, were observed around the place of interment as have been already described.
Last of The Mohicans
They then filled the grave with earth and tramped upon it until it would hold no more.
The balance of the loose earth was thrown far and wide, and a mass of dead undergrowth spread in as natural a manner as possible over the new-made grave to obliterate all signs of the ground having been disturbed.
Soon he discovered a spade hidden by the underbrush which they had laid upon the grave.
Tarzan of the Apes
Hartright," she went on, "I will show you the grave, and then go back at once to the house.
Fairlie's grave from the humbler monuments scattered about it.
The Woman in White
They dug a grave for her in the new soil, where the roots of the pine-trees impeded their spades; and when her bones had rested there nearly two hundred years, and a city had sprung up around them, a church of stone was built upon the spot.
Where their house would have stood, there was his grave."
Grandfathers Chair
Here she seated herself again at the head of the grave, watching each movement of the youths with eager and jealous eyes.
Throughout the whole of a ceremony, which is ever solemn and admonitory, the squatter had maintained a grave and serious deportment.
The Prairie