keep one's powder dry

present singular third person keeps one's powder dry · participle present keeping one's powder dry · participle past kept one's powder dry · past kept one's powder dry · alternative keep the powder dry

1. idiomaticTo hold back on action until a future time; to save one's resources in case of emergency.

   He’d for the most part refrained from any dramatic concurrences or dissents—as though keeping his powder dry for Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the biggest religious-liberty decision in years.

   2014 July 1, Noah Feldman, “Alito's Day in Court”, in BloombergView, archived from the original on 25 Aug 2014

   2 more examples

   […]events now happening, which, beyond almost any set of circumstances which have arisen in our recent history, impose the necessity on Great Britain, at all events, of keeping her powder dry, and of keeping her resources in steadfast charge.

   1904, John Morley, Hansard

   Another post written by Mr. Prevost, according to The Daily Beast, told people to “Keep [their] powder dry,” because there is a “war right here at home, a war for our streets and neighborhoods.”

   2025 May 13, Richard Fausset, quoting Louis Prevost, “The Pope’s Florida Brother, a MAGA Disciple, Plans to ‘Tone It Down’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN