Bite your tongue!
Stop talking! An expression of frustration with what someone is saying, often because it is pessimistic. A: "Oh, I don't think I'm going to get the job." B: "Bite your tongue! You don't know that for sure." Bite your tongue! I never did anything of the sort! A: "My hair looks dumb, doesn't it?" B: "Bite your tongue! You look stunning, and I know your boyfriend will think so too."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
Bite your tongue!
Fig. an expression said to someone who has just stated an unpleasant supposition that unfortunately maybe true. Mary: I'm afraid that we've missed the plane already. Jane: Bite your tongue! We still have time. Mary: Marry him? But you're older than he is! Sally: Bite your tongue!
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
bite your tongue
COMMON If you bite your tongue, you do not say something that you would like to say. All I can do is to bite my tongue if I want to keep my job.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
bite your tongue
make a desperate effort to avoid saying something.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bite your ˈtongue
stop yourself from saying something that might upset somebody or cause an argument, although you want to speak: I didn’t believe her explanation but I bit my tongue. OPPOSITE: give somebody a piece of your mindFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bite your tongue
Hope that what you just said doesn’t come true. This imperative is a translation of the Yiddish saying,
Bays dir di tsung, and is used in informal conversation. For example, “You think it’ll rain on their outdoor ceremony? Bite your tongue!” A much older but related phrase is
to bite one’s tongue, meaning to remain silent when provoked—literally, to hold it between one’s teeth so as to suppress speaking. Shakespeare had it in
Henry VI, Part 2 (1.1): “So Yorke must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue.” See also
hold one's tongue.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer