keep to oneself
keep to (oneself)
1. To refrain from attempting to communicate or make connections with others. If you want to make friends, you can't keep to yourself all the time. Start meeting people! The old man down the street always keeps to himself. I just realized I don't even know his name.
2. To not reveal or share some thought, idea, opinion, or piece of information with anyone else. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "keep" and "to." Please tell them to keep the news to themselves for the time being. We're not ready to announce anything publicly yet. You really shouldn't keep your feelings to yourself like that.
See also: keep
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
keep something to oneself
to keep something a secret. I want you to keep this news to yourself. This should be kept to yourself.
See also: keep
keep to oneself
to be solitary; to stay away from other people. Ann tends to keep to herself. She doesn't have many friends. I try to keep to myself each morning so I can get some work done.
See also: keep
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
keep to oneself
1. Also, keep oneself to oneself. Shun the company of others, value one's privacy, as in She kept to herself all morning, or, as Doris Lessing put it in In Pursuit of the English (1960): "She keeps herself to herself so much." [Late 1600s]
2. Refrain from revealing, hold secret, as in He promised to keep the news to himself. Also see the synonym keep under one's hat.
See also: keep
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
- keep to (oneself)
- keep yourself to yourself
- keep (oneself) to (oneself)
- keep oneself to oneself
- keep to
- keep out
- keep out (of something)
- keep still
- keep still (about something)
- keep from