| 释义 |
keep your nose clean keep (one's) nose cleanTo behave properly; to stay out of trouble. You better keep your nose clean, kid, or you're going to run into trouble you can't handle.See also: clean, keep, nosekeep your nose clean INFORMALIf you keep your nose clean, you behave well and avoid trouble. He'd worked hard and kept his nose clean for all those years. He told me to keep my nose clean and my mouth shut.See also: clean, keep, nosekeep your nose clean stay out of trouble. informalSee also: clean, keep, nosekeep your ˈnose clean (informal) do nothing that will get you into trouble with the police or other authorities: After he came out of prison, he was determined to keep his nose clean.See also: clean, keep, nosekeep your nose cleanStay out of trouble. This slangy phrase began to be heard in Britain in the late nineteenth century and crossed the Atlantic soon afterward. Why cleanliness should be invoked is not known. Presumably keeping one’s nose clean would be equivalent to not dirtying it by poking it into someone else’s business (see poke one’s nose into). Anyhow, the term was very common by the 1940s, when it appeared in such popular novels as Manning Long’s False Alarm (1943): “Keep your nose clean and you’ll keep out of trouble.” See also: clean, keep, nose |