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not breathe a word



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Idioms and Phrases

Not reveal a secret, keep concealed, as in You must promise not to breathe a word of what I'm about to tell you . This phrase relies on the verb breathe as meaning “to utter,” a usage dating from the late 1500s.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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