in check

in check

Under control; contained or restrained. You've got to find a way to keep the company's expenses in check, or you could end up going bankrupt. He was careful to keep his displeasure in check as he unwrapped the present from his wife.
See also: check
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

in check

Restrained from moving or acting; under control. For example, The first division held the enemy in check, or Mary kept her emotions in check. This term replaced at check and out of check, which date from the mid-1500s.
See also: check
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • knowledge
  • low-key
  • out-of-pocket expenses
  • shady past
  • there is no holding someone
  • there's no holding (someone)
  • there's no holding/stopping somebody
  • there's no stopping (someone)
  • get free from (someone or something)
  • to the (four) wind(s)
References in periodicals archive
At the door, non-members pay $100 in check or cash [no credit cards.]
Around town: events seminars meetings talks
Abagnale speaks with some authority on the subject of counterfeiting: A boy wonder of the world of bunko, he forged $2.5 million in checks by the time he was 25, passing phony paper in 26 different countries.
Bringing the border war home