keep one's nose clean

keep one's nose clean idiom
Stay out of trouble. For example, Dad told Brian to keep his nose clean from now on or he'd cut off his allowance. [Colloquial; late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.