keep one's powder dry



keep one's powder dry

Stay alert, be careful, as in Go ahead and take on the opposition, but keep your powder dry. This colloquial expression, which originally alluded to keeping gunpowder dry so that it would ignite, has been used figuratively since the 1800s but today is less common than take care.
See also: dry, keep, powder

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Alyosha-Russian
Hirakuhee-ṙah-kooJapanese
Saule-Latvian, Baltic Mythology
Leone (1)-Italian
Nairyosangha-Persian Mythology
EstevÃO-Portuguese