воды в рот набрать

• ВОДЫ В РОТ НАБРАТЬ coll

[VP; subj: human; usu. past, often after как, будто, словно, точно]

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⇒ (often used when contrasting a person's silence with his initial intention to speak, his usual talkativeness, the expectation that he speak etc) to maintain complete silence, as if one had lost the ability to speak:

- X (как) воды в рот набрал{{}}≈ X won't say a word;

- X (has) clammed up;

- [of concealing a secret, not objecting to sth. etc] X is keeping his mouth shut;

|| ты что, воды в рот набрал? ≈ has the cat got your tongue?;

- have you lost your tongue?

     ♦ "Давно ли ещё о празднике причитали, а тут воды в рот набрали..." (Абрамов 1). "Not long ago they were wailing over the holiday, and now they won't say a word!" (1b).

     ♦ ...Когда в конце он поставил вопрос о распределении имущества бежавших с белыми, - ответили молчанием. "Чего ж вы воды в рот набрали?" - досадуя, спросил Иван Алексеевич (Шолохов 4). ...When he concluded with the proposal to share out the property of those who had fled with the Whites, the response was silence. "What's the matter? Have you lost your tongues?" Ivan exclaimed angrily (4a).

     ♦ "А ты думал, что стариков можно толкать, пихать... а они будут сидеть, как воды в рот набравши" (Ерофеев 3). [context transl] "And I suppose you thought that you could give an old man like him a shove and a kick...and he would just sit and take it without a murmur" (3a).