to keep mum
3
7.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
guardar silencio
- Told you to keep mum, Sid.
Examples
-
I decided to keep mum nevertheless.
Blog text (21) -
Now, I told that little rapscallion to keep mum about this whole affair.
-
How many of his colleagues might also be receiving these pictures, or pictures like them, and keeping mum about it?
Fiction book (2001) -
In fact, there are major advantages to having the doc keep mum.
Blog text (32) -
The Texas Transportation Commission is keeping mum on its decision to approve the speed, notes the Los Angeles Times.
Blog text (13) -
Because what we're learning now is the kind of things that were known only to the McCain/Palin campaign, and of course they kept mum about it because they wanted to win.
Blog text (13) -
A Time magazine reporter got access to the data scientists in the campaign's Chicago headquarters on the condition that the reporter would keep mum until after the election.
Blog text (9) -
I have to keep mum on the matter—conflict of interest—but there's more than enough support already.
Fiction book (1992) -
If your friends ask you about the surprise party, you should keep mum to keep it a secret.
-
During the investigation, the witness decided to keep mum rather than share what he knew.
Synonyms
∞
4.1
Tell someone to be quiet in a rude or angry way
231
1.0
To stop making noise or talking
116
5.6
To say nothing to avoid trouble or keep a secret
90
2.5
To say nothing or not tell a secret
76
2.6
To not tell anyone private information
14
6.6
Stop talking suddenly because you are nervous or do not want to say anything
10
4.8
To stop talking and say nothing
4
4.4
To stop talking to keep a secret or when told to be quiet
3
7.1
To stop talking suddenly and not answer questions
1
9.9
To stay silent on purpose to avoid trouble
1
9.9
To choose not to tell a fact or story
To keep quiet on purpose and not tell others
Not say anything or tell other people
Refuse to speak or suddenly stop talking when asked
To tell someone to stop talking and be quiet
Antonyms
How Silent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to remain silent' follows directly from combining 'keep' (to continue or maintain) with 'mum' (silence), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the phrase meaning. The construction is a straightforward keep + noun collocation and is cross-linguistically transparent in logic, making it readily comprehensible at B1 level.
Etymology
Keep mum may come from the 'mmm' sound people make with closed lips when they want to be quiet, so mum came to mean being silent. That's why keep mum means 'to stay quiet' and not tell a secret.