powder

keep your powder dry be ready for action; remain alert for a possible emergency.

☞ When his troops were about to cross a river, the English statesman and general Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) is said to have exhorted them: 'Put your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry'. The powder referred to is gunpowder.

2005Daily Telegraph The suicide bombers seem to be less active than usual-but that may just be because they are keeping their powder dry for a post-constitution blitz.

powder your nose (of a woman) go to the lavatory.

☞ This is an early 20th-century euphemism, which is now rather dated. The term powder room has been used since the 1940s to refer to a ladies' toilet in a hotel, restaurant, or similar public building.

1972L. P. DaviesWhat Did I Do Tomorrow? I'll use your bathroom. To powder my nose, as nice girls say.

take a powder depart quickly, especially in order to avoid a difficult situation. North American informal

☞ The phrase is a shortening of an earlier take a run-out powder, but what the metaphorical underpinnings of that were remains obscure.

2002New York Times Why don't you take a powder, jerk, or how'd you like a knuckle sandwich?