Word.ws English Dictionary

kept a lid on

kept a lid on is the simple past and past participle of keep a lid on.

Meaning of keep a lid on

Verb

keep a lid on (third-person singular simple present keeps a lid on, present participle keeping a lid on, simple past and past participle kept a lid on)

  1. (idiomatic, imperative) To keep something secret.
    • It's supposed to be a surprise, so try to keep a lid on it, will you?

Questions about kept a lid on

What is kept a lid on the simple past and past participle of?
Kept a lid on is the simple past and past participle of keep a lid on.

Words near kept a lid on in the dictionary

  1. kept
  2. kept a civil tongue in one's head
  3. kept a close watch
  4. kept a cool head
  5. kept a dog and barked oneself
  6. kept a lid on
  7. kept a look-out
  8. kept a low profile
  9. kept a tight rein on
  10. kept a watch out
  11. kept a weather eye open

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept a lid on (page history and authors); keep a lid on (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: “kept a lid on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kept_a_lid_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.