tick a lock

present singular third person ticks a lock · participle present ticking a lock · participle past ticked a lock · past ticked a lock

1. To keep quiet or keep a secret.

   When Lesnar comes back, either at WWE Survivor Series 2012 or on a future program, he just needs to tick a lock.

   2012 November 15, Bill Atkinson, “Brock Lesnar: Why WWE Should Never Allow Him to Cut Long Promos”, in Bleacher Report

   2 more examples

   “Tick-a-lock,” he pronounced; all the while twisting his fingers about his lips, and further all the while holding to his constant, dramatic, and overly-serious stare over me.

   2012, C. David Murphy, A Diary's House

   Exaggerate the “tick a lock” symbol on your lips and press the palms of your hands down toward the floor as a reminder to Madame Celine if she babbles on incessantly in her thick, French Canadian accent, bickering to her beloved husband, Rene, about their trio of boys-will-be-boys sons and her recurrent professional fears that a) she only takes home one award at the Grammy's next year, and b) she contracts tonsillitis and suffers a bout of subsequent prolonged laryngitis.

   2013, Kathleen Gerard, How to Become a Bodyguard for Celine Dion's Larynx