Hold your tongue
Meaning
To refrain from speaking or to keep silent, often when one is tempted to say something inappropriate or critical.
Origin
The phrase "hold your tongue" carries the vivid, if impossible, image of physically grasping and restraining one's tongue. While never meant to be taken literally, it evokes the sheer force and urgency needed to silence oneself. Emerging from a time when the tongue was widely understood as the unruly instrument of both wisdom and folly, this idiom became a powerful command to exert ultimate dominion over one's words. It served as a stern reminder to keep potentially harmful or ill-advised remarks from escaping, thus preventing mischief, damage, or regret, firmly establishing itself as a direct call to rein in one's most expressive, and sometimes most dangerous, self.
Examples
- When the manager started criticizing her work, she had to bite her lip and hold her tongue to avoid a confrontation.
- His grandmother always told him to hold his tongue if he didn't have anything nice to say about someone.