man of few words

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man of few words (plural men of few words)

1. (idiomatic) A man who doesn't speak much; a habitually terse or taciturn man.

   Coordinate term: woman of few words

   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Fight in the Desert”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 106:

     Tarzan but nodded his head. He was a man of few words, and possibly it was for this reason as much as any that Kadour ben Saden had taken to him, for if there be one thing that an Arab despises it is a talkative man.