to the grave
2
8.4
- idiom
:
hasta la tumba
- I have a secret that I will take to the grave.
- take to the grave
Take my sins down to the grave?
- Take my sins down to the grave?
- I mean, even to the to to this day, I could take you to dead bodies, but those secrets are going to go to the grave with me.
Examples
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You swore you would take that to the grave, you bastard.
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Take this secret to the grave.
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I have a feeling he took it to the grave.
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Now it's looking like McKenna just might take his secret to the grave.
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He took that lie to the grave, which is my suggestion.
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He promised to keep her secret and take it to the grave.
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She vowed not to reveal the truth and to take it to the grave.
Antonyms
How Permanent
Surface Forms
Morphology
to + the + grave
The phrase simply combines the motion/directional preposition 'to' with 'the grave' (death/burial), so its sense of taking or keeping something until death is directly derivable from the constituents. This spatial/death metaphor is common across many languages (e.g. Spanish 'llevar a la tumba'), so a B1 learner who knows the words will very likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The phrase to the grave comes from the image of burying a secret with a person in the grave, so the secret is literally hidden where the dead are. That's why it means 'to keep something secret until death'.