Word.ws English Dictionary

kept one's cards close to one's chest

kept one's cards close to one's chest is the simple past and past participle of keep one's cards close to one's chest.

Meaning of keep one's cards close to one's chest

Verb

keep one's cards close to one's chest (third-person singular simple present keeps one's cards close to one's chest, present participle keeping one's cards close to one's chest, simple past and past participle kept one's cards close to one's chest)

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To avoid revealing one's thoughts, circumstances, or plans.
    • Balthus has always kept his cards close to his chest. When I asked him if Summertime was a transcription of Poussin's Echo and Narcissus—a variant of his lost copy—he did not reply.1997, Sabine Rewald, “Balthus's Magic Mountain”, in The Burlington Magazine, volume 139, number 1134, page 626
  2. (literal) To hold one's hand close to one's chest so that other players cannot see the cards.

Questions about kept one's cards close to one's chest

What is kept one's cards close to one's chest the simple past and past participle of?
Kept one's cards close to one's chest is the simple past and past participle of keep one's cards close to one's chest.

Words near kept one's cards close to one's chest in the dictionary

  1. kept on about
  2. kept on keeping on
  3. kept on truckin'
  4. kept on trucking
  5. kept one's breath to cool one's porridge
  6. kept one's cards close to one's chest
  7. kept one's chapels
  8. kept one's chin up
  9. kept one's cool
  10. kept one's counsel
  11. kept one's countenance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept one's cards close to one's chest (page history and authors); keep one's cards close to one's chest (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “kept one's cards close to one's chest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kept_one%27s_cards_close_to_one%27s_chest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.