keep one's hand in
Maintain one's skills
To keep one's hand in is to maintain skill or familiarity through occasional practice: She still teaches one class a semester just to keep her hand in.
The phrase suggests staying competent at something even when no longer doing it regularly or professionally.
The image is of keeping your hand involved rather than letting ability go rusty.
- proficiencySkilled performance level
- stay sharpMaintain mental acuity
- avocationPursuit outside one's profession
- side projectSecondary creative endeavor
- drillHole-boring device
practice session · retention · grip · training · brush up · brush · competence · expertise · mastery · skill set · pursuit · aptitude · rehearsal · engagement · fluency · muscle memory · refinement · continuity
keep one's hand inwalk away
Depart from something
abandon · wash one's hands of · hang up one's boots · drop out · hang it up
keep, keeps, keeper, keepers, keeping, upkeep, ones, hand, hands