keep one's head on a swivel
keep one's head on a swivel verb: to be on the alert, to be watchful.
Verb
keep one's head on a swivel (third-person singular simple present keeps one's head on a swivel, present participle keeping one's head on a swivel, simple past and past participle kept one's head on a swivel)
- To be on the alert, to be watchful.
- Near-synonyms: keep an eye out, keep one's eyes open
- You all kept your head on a swivel and that's what you gotta do when you find yourself in a vicious cock fight.2004, Will Ferrell, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, spoken by Rob Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Apatow Productions; distributed by DreamWorks Pictures
- Synonyms:
- keep an eye out, keep one's eyes open
Synonyms of keep one's head on a swivel
Forms of keep one's head on a swivel
| third-person singular present | keeps one's head on a swivel |
|---|---|
| present participle | keeping one's head on a swivel |
| past participle | kept one's head on a swivel |
| past | kept one's head on a swivel |
Questions about keep one's head on a swivel
- What does keep one's head on a swivel mean?
- Keep one's head on a swivel means to be on the alert, to be watchful.
- What part of speech is keep one's head on a swivel?
- Keep one's head on a swivel is a verb.
- What is the past tense of keep one's head on a swivel?
- The past tense of keep one's head on a swivel is kept one's head on a swivel.
Words near keep one's head on a swivel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's head on a swivel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “keep one's head on a swivel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_one%27s_head_on_a_swivel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.