under wraps


Concealed or secret, as in The design for the new plant is under wraps. This idiom frequently is put as keep under wraps, meaning “keep secret,” as in Let's keep this theory under wraps until we've tested it sufficiently. It alludes to covering something completely by wrapping it up. [1930s]

Words Nearby under wraps

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

How to use under wraps in a sentence

  • Meanwhile we've got to keep it under wraps and quietly prevent anyone else from learning the same things independently.

    The Sensitive Man | Poul William Anderson
  • The whole deal is being kept strictly under wraps until Leffingwell's experiments prove out.

    This Crowded Earth | Robert Bloch
  • It's a new, experimental tug and it's been kept under wraps until now.

    Rescue Squad | Thomas J. O'Hara
  • But she merely shrugged and said, "Result of a lifetime of keeping myself under wraps."

    The Ambassador | Samuel Kimball Merwin
  • But there was one time when he almost had come specially to see Ramos' new bubb, still under wraps, supposedly.

    The Planet Strappers | Raymond Zinke Gallun