play it close to the hip
play it close to the hip verb: to behave conservatively and discreetly.
Verb
play it close to the hip (third-person singular simple present plays it close to the hip, present participle playing it close to the hip, simple past and past participle played it close to the hip)
- To behave conservatively and discreetly.
- Goodman wanted to play it close to the hip by starting the evening out with his more commercial arrangements—which fell flat with the audience; however, when he launched the band into Fletcher Henderson's arrangement of "King Porter Stomp," the fans went wild.2013, Michael Stephans, Experiencing Jazz: A Listener's Companion, page 101
- If I opened my mouth a string of accusations would fly out and if I didn't play it close to the hip, I'd ruin any chances I might have at coaxing some information out of him.2015, Amanda Bonilla, Shadows at Midnight
Forms of play it close to the hip
| third-person singular present | plays it close to the hip |
|---|---|
| present participle | playing it close to the hip |
| past participle | played it close to the hip |
| past | played it close to the hip |
Questions about play it close to the hip
- What does play it close to the hip mean?
- Play it close to the hip means to behave conservatively and discreetly.
- What part of speech is play it close to the hip?
- Play it close to the hip is a verb.
- What is the past tense of play it close to the hip?
- The past tense of play it close to the hip is played it close to the hip.
Words near play it close to the hip in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: play it close to the hip (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: “play it close to the hip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/play_it_close_to_the_hip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.