in check

in check

1. Under restraint or control.
   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 267:

     It was a sudden meeting, and one in which rapture was kept well in check by pain.

   • 1880, Thomas Hardy, chapter 37, in The Trumpet Major:

     The old feelings, so religiously held in check, were stimulated to rebelliousness, though they did not show themselves in any direct manner as yet.

   • 1921, Jeffery Farnol, chapter 30, in Martin Conisby's Vengeance:

     I . . . espied a small cave, excellent suited to our defence and where two determined men might hold in check a whole army.

   • 2008 December 3, Kate Torgovnick, “Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?”, in Time:

     Scott also has schizoaffective bipolar disorder, a mental illness she keeps in check with a low dose of Zyprexa.

• Often preceded by the verb hold or keep.

• “in check”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Chicken, check in, check-in, checkin', chicken