silent as the grave

English

Etymology

Perhaps connected to the idea of taking a secret to the grave, or the idea that dead men tell no tales.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

silent as the grave (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic, simile) Saying absolutely nothing (especially about a particular subject).
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     “Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always in the right of it. I’ll be as silent as the grave.”

   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XL, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     “Well, then, if you’re bound to go, I’ll tell you the way to do when you get to the village. Shut the door and blindfold the doctor tight and fast, and make him swear to be silent as the grave, and put a purse full of gold in his hand, […]

Synonyms

• silent as the tomb

Translations

Note: these are translations of a verb construction, to be as silent as the grave, rather than of the adjective.

to say absolutely nothing

• Czech: mlčet jako hrob (cs) (literally “be silent like a grave”)
• Dutch: doodstil (nl)
• Finnish: haudanhiljainen (literally “grave-silent”)
• French: muet comme une tombe (fr), muet comme une carpe (fr), muet comme un poisson (fr)
• German: wie ein Grab schweigen (de) (literally “be silent like a grave”)
• Hungarian: néma, mint a sír (hu) (literally “silent like a grave”)
• Icelandic: þegja eins og steinn (is) (literally “be silent like stone”)
• Polish: milczeć jak grób (pl) (literally “be silent like a grave”), milczeć jak kamień (literally “be silent like a stone”), milczeć jak głaz (literally “be silent like a rock”), milczeć jak zaklęty, (slang) milczeć jak zamurowany, siedzieć jak mumia (pl) (literally “sit like a mummy”)
• Russian: нем, как ры́ба (nem, kak rýba, literally “silent like a fish”), молчать, как пле́нный партиза́н (molčatʹ, kak plénnyj partizán, literally “be silent like a captured partisan”)
• Serbo-Croatian: šutjeti kao grob
• Spanish: ser callado como una tumba, ser como una tumba