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Glite Dictionary
⬇️ To limit 🤢 Not to vomit
to keep down

to keep down

10 5.9
To stop yourself from throwing up food or drink
  • phrasal verb
  • /kip daʊn/
translation icon : no vomitar
  • This time, Cristina kept her food down.
  • keep food down
  • keep lunch down
  • keep dinner down

Examples

  • Now I will read the rest of your posts and try to keep my lunch down.

    Blog text (10)

  • Look, I appreciate the thought, but I haven't been able To keep any food down all day.

    Slime City (1988)

  • People have enough trouble keeping the food down as it is.

    One Day (2011)

  • It's the only way I can keep my lunch down.

    Brain Dead (1990)

  • Then the woman tried again to feed the old man, but he could not keep down the food.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • I could not keep any food down.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • How's she doing on keeping her food down?

    Bird (1988)

  • Wylie brought more leaves and found roots and acorns we could eat and that I could keep down.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • There are some things even a hardened cop can't think about if he wants to stay sane and keep his lunch down.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • When she feels nauseous, it's hard for her to keep down any food.

Synonyms

to get down
vsto keep down
10 4.4

To manage to swallow food or medicine when it is hard

focuses on preventing vomiting and keeping food or drink inside

Antonyms

to vomit
148 1.0

To force food and drink up from your stomach through your mouth

How Sick

to throw up
  • Informal
296 2.3
to retch
9 7.2
to keep down
10 5.9

Surface Forms

keep down infinitive
keeping down present participle
keeps down third person singular
kept down past
kept down past participle

Morphology

keep + down

The verb 'keep' (to prevent/restrain) combined with 'down' (direction/consignment) can plausibly be interpreted as preventing something from coming up, so a learner could infer the sense ‘prevent vomiting’. However, the medical/specific sense 'not throw up' relies on a metaphorical mapping (keeping stomach contents down) and is not fully predictable from the literal definitions provided, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The verb keep down comes from the literal idea of keeping food down in your stomach instead of letting it come up. That's why it means 'to not throw up'.