bite your tongue

bite (one's) tongue

1. Literally, to accidentally pinch one's tongue with one's teeth. My daughter started crying after she bit her tongue.
2. To stop oneself from saying something (often something potentially inappropriate, hurtful, or offensive). I had to bite my tongue as my sister gushed about her new boyfriend yet again.
See also: bite, tongue

Bite your tongue!

Stop talking! An expression of frustration with what someone is saying, often because it is pessimistic. A: "Oh, I don't think I'm going to get the job." B: "Bite your tongue! You don't know that for sure."
See also: bite
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bite your tongue

COMMON If you bite your tongue, you do not say something that you would like to say. All I can do is to bite my tongue if I want to keep my job.
See also: bite, tongue
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

bite your tongue

make a desperate effort to avoid saying something.
See also: bite, tongue
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

bite your ˈtongue

stop yourself from saying something that might upset somebody or cause an argument, although you want to speak: I didn’t believe her explanation but I bit my tongue. OPPOSITE: give somebody a piece of your mind
See also: bite, tongue
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

bite your tongue

Hope that what you just said doesn’t come true. This imperative is a translation of the Yiddish saying, Bays dir di tsung, and is used in informal conversation. For example, “You think it’ll rain on their outdoor ceremony? Bite your tongue!” A much older but related phrase is to bite one’s tongue, meaning to remain silent when provoked—literally, to hold it between one’s teeth so as to suppress speaking. Shakespeare had it in Henry VI, Part 2 (1.1): “So Yorke must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue.” See also hold one's tongue.
See also: bite, tongue
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • bite (one's) tongue
  • bite one's tongue
  • bite tongue
  • at doorstep
  • at (one's) doorstep
  • at (one's) door
  • at door
  • at one's door
  • at someone's expense
  • at (one's) expense
References in periodicals archive
That is plain hard work - going to confession to get out the rubbish, trying day by day to pray for the person you hate most, remembering to bite your tongue to avoid unholy war.
BRAIN GAIN: Theme
If campers pursue what you feel is a bad choice, bite your tongue and remember that the best learning experience is discovering how to do better next time.
Good trip leaders go one step beyond: the dos and don'ts of trip leadership
SOMETIMES you just have to bite your tongue, I'm afraid.
In-laws think they've bought right to meddle
One came within inches of her face to take a close-up shot before running away shouting: "She f***ing p***d herself, ha!" Maggie said: "With a seizure, you can wet yourself and bite your tongue and these were the two facts that they seemed to find most hilarious as I had wet myself and had blood down my front.
Yobs laughed & filmed me having epileptic fit; Seizure sufferer Maggie tells of humiliation
Remembering the golden rule that the first loss is the least loss, I'd bite your tongue and stick it in at four grand.
Quentin Willson: At your service
If your bud has habits that just won't quit, should you bite your tongue or bite her head off?
My BFF bugs me!: BFF has a habit that plucks your every last nerve? Should you speak now or forever hold your peace? (GL Friends)
Either bite your tongue and accept or risk losing her and any grandchildren that arrive."
MUM IS RUINING MY MARRIAGE PLANS; Dear Coleen
This is caused by injury, perhaps from a sharp edge of a tooth, braces, badly fitting dentures or a bump from a toothbrush, or if you accidentally bite your tongue or cheek while eating.
Mouth ulcer won't go away; health focus