Word.ws English Dictionary

kept one's powder dry

kept one's powder dry is the simple past and past participle of keep one's powder dry.

Meaning of keep one's powder dry

Verb

keep one's powder dry (third-person singular simple present keeps one's powder dry, present participle keeping one's powder dry, simple past and past participle kept one's powder dry)

  1. (idiomatic) To hold back on action until a future time; to save one's resources in case of emergency.
    • […]events now happening, which, beyond almost any set of circumstances which have arisen in our recent history, impose the necessity on Great Britain, at all events, of keeping her powder dry, and of keeping her resources in steadfast charge.1904, John Morley, Hansard

Questions about kept one's powder dry

What is kept one's powder dry the simple past and past participle of?
Kept one's powder dry is the simple past and past participle of keep one's powder dry.

Words near kept one's powder dry in the dictionary

  1. kept one's nose clean
  2. kept one's options open
  3. kept one's own counsel
  4. kept one's pants on
  5. kept one's pecker up
  6. kept one's powder dry
  7. kept one's shirt on
  8. kept one's side of the bargain
  9. kept one's stick on the ice
  10. kept one's temper
  11. kept one's tits on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept one's powder dry (page history and authors); keep one's powder dry (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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