From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishkeep to something phrasal verb1 STAY/NOT LEAVEto stay on a particular road, course, piece of ground etc It’s best to keep to the paths.2 OBEYto do what has been decided in an agreement or plan, or what is demanded by law Keep to the speed limits.3 keep to the point/subject etc to talk or write only about the subject you are supposed to be talking about4 keep something to somethingPREVENT to prevent an amount, degree, or level from becoming higher than it should Costs must be kept to a minimum.5 keep something to yourself to not tell anyone about something I’d appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.6 keep to yourself (also keep yourself to yourself British English)TELL A SECRET to live a very quiet private life and not do many things that involve other people → keep→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
keep to the point/subject etc• De Quincey was no master of keeping to the point.• Nothing is more irritating than people who do not keep to the point and talk for too long.• Come straight to the point and keep to the point are the golden rules of letter writing.be kept to a minimum• Movement in a punt should always be kept to a minimum.• We hope the court proceedings will be concluded quickly, so that the period of uncertainty is kept to a minimum.• You're not expected to input anything too obscure though, so frustrations in this respect are kept to a minimum.• Purely in order to minimise costs, drafting meetings should be kept to a minimum and should wherever possible be restricted.• The trouble was kept to a minimum as much because of the novelty of the situation as anything else.• Conflict is kept to a minimum by allowing such groups to share power.• It can be kept to a minimum by proper safety guidelines, of which there seem to be plenty.• Packaging was kept to a minimum for counter-service shopping for two main reasons.keep something to yourself• So don't keep it all to yourself!• We went out and tied bricks to him and put him down and we kept it to ourselves.• Don't tell Sam -- he's incapable of keeping anything to himself.• I've got cancer, but I would appreciate if you would keep this to yourself.• After all, what right have they to keep it to themselves?• But she kept them to herself.• She wouldn't say even then but I plagued her a bit till she couldn't keep it to herself any longer.• Branson knew who the killer was, but had kept it to himself for twenty years.• She kept the pregnancy to herself - or rather kept it from herself, and from everyone else, for too long.• Never a woman to keep her thoughts to herself, she told him how comfortable she felt in his company.• Share information - don't keep everything to yourself; there is no advantage to this. 5.keep to yourself• I watched her drive out on to the highway, thinking many things which are better kept to myself.• Of course, the Little Sprouts and the Plumpsters could have kept to themselves.• She keeps to her room, keeps to herself.• The sympathy she showed Karen; the relief she kept to herself.• Whatever problems he had faced in their life together he had kept to himself.• His frustration he tried to keep to himself but it hovered about him until it shaded and finally swallowed him.• Mandeville kept to himself, fretting about Southgate and when the additional soldiers would arrive.• If they kept to themselves, the whole northern end of the area might as well be written off.From Longman Business Dictionarykeep to something phrasal verb [transitive] to do what you have promised or agreed to doMembers of staff will promote standards of conduct and will try to keep to them. → keep→ See Verb table 