keep temper

keep (one's) temper

To refrain from becoming angered, enraged, or upset due to some provocation; to maintain control of one's composure despite being angry or upset. You're a good driver, but you need to do a better job of keeping your temper when other drivers make mistakes. It's hard to keep my temper with the kids after being kept awake by them all night long.

See also: keep, temper

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

keep one's temper

 and hold one's temper

to hold back an expression of anger. (The opposite of lose one's temper.) She should have learned to keep her temper when she was a child. Sally got thrown off the team because she couldn't hold her temper.

See also: keep, temper

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.