keep one's counsel

present singular third person keeps one's counsel · participle present keeping one's counsel · participle past kept one's counsel · past kept one's counsel

1. To keep one's own business private; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning one's own deeds, situation, or thoughts.

   As he held his mother to him, he longed to tell her all, but he kept his counsel.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Contains both Love and War”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 56

   1 more example

   [Ruhollah] Khomeini's approach to decision making is to keep his counsel at first, allowing the advocates of different options to debate issues openly.

   1982 July 26, “Personal Power, Personal Hate”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2008

   Synonyms: hold one's peace, keep one's cards close to one's chest, keep one's mouth shut, keep one's own counsel, keep counsel

2. To keep a secret for someone else; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning someone else's deeds, situation, or thoughts.

   Standish will keep our counsel, and the news will be old before it's known.

   1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XLIX, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V, page 105

   Synonyms: keep one's mouth shut