Definify.com
Definition 2024
keep_oneself_to_oneself
keep to oneself
English
Verb
keep to oneself (third-person singular simple present keeps to oneself, present participle keeping to oneself, simple past and past participle kept to oneself)
- (idiomatic, intransitive) To purposely avoid interaction with others; to act introverted.
- She preferred to keep to herself after her husband died.
- (idiomatic, transitive) To refrain from telling or otherwise expressing.
- 1900, Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, Chapter IV:
- Then he fell to gabbling strange and dreadful things which were not clearly understandable, and which the doctor admonished them to keep to themselves.
- 1900, Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, Chapter IV: