tenersi tutto dentro
Italian
Etymology
Literally, "to keep everything inside oneself."
Verb
tenersi tutto dentro
- (reflexive, idiomatic) to keep one's emotions bottled up
- 2013, John Steinbeck, Sergio Claudio Perroni, transl., Furore [The Grapes of Wrath], Bompiani, page 367:
- Gli uomini sono capaci di tenersi tutto dentro, e di stare sempre lì a rodersi il fegato, poi un giorno gli scoppia il cuore e schiattano.
- Take a man, he can get worried an' worried, an' it eats out his liver, an' purty soon he'll jus' lay down and die with his heart et out.
- (literally, “Men are capable of keeping all their emotions bottled up, and to always stay there gnawing at their livers, then one day their hearts burst and they collapse.”)