Definition of "keep back" [keep back]

• To hold back, refuse to give or share (verb)
• To restrict or restrain (verb)
• To prevent (a pupil) to advance in a course (verb)

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• "We are not like the Israelites who longed for the “flesh pots” they had left behind in Egypt; yet when we look around it is difficult to keep back the question put by the Ecclesiast, “What is the cause that the former days were better than these?” and the answer we think is not difficult to find."
• "“To give all one's goods to feed the poor is common in this country, with princes and people, ” who often keep back nothing (not even one cowree, the thousandth part of a cent) to provide for themselves a handful of rice."
• "'Howsomever, these gam'sters do certainly keep back their milk to-day."