Hold your horses

Hold your horses

"Hold your horses", sometimes said as "Hold the horses", is a common idiom to mean "hold on" or wait, which is believed to have originated in the United States of America in the 19th century and is historically related to horse riding, or driving a horse-drawn vehicle.

Use

The phrase is typically used when someone is rushing in to something. It is often combined with linked idioms such as , cool your jets, or look before you leap. However it also has a more literal meaning and in certain circumstances is the preferred idiom to use. "Hold your horses" literally means to keep your horse (or horses) still, which would be used when horse riding, or driving a horse-drawn vehicle. Thus it is very easy for someone without previously hearing the expression to understand its meaning. Someone is to wait for a moment. It is usually followed up with an explanation to demonstrate why they should wait. For example, "Hold your horses, you haven't thought about this yet."

References

* [http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/hold-your-horses.html UsingEnglish.com entry]
* [http://www.idiomsite.com/holdyourhorses.htm IdiomSite.com entry]
* [http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hold+horses Free dictionary entry]
* [http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/HOLDYOURHORSES Word Web]
* [http://www.allwords.com/word-hold%20your%20horses.html all words.com]
* [http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/student/idioms/idioms/hold_ones_horses.html] Brigham Young University's English Language Cyber Center


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • hold your horses — 1. Not so fast 2. Wait a moment • • • Main Entry: ↑horse * * * hold your horses informal phrase used for telling someone to wait before doing something Thesaurus: ways of telling or asking someone to wait …   Useful english dictionary

  • Hold your horses! — Hold (your) horses! informal something that you say in order to tell someone to stop doing or saying something because they are going too fast. Just hold your horses, Bill. Let s think about this for a moment …   New idioms dictionary

  • hold your horses — hold (your) horses wait. Hold your horses, Colin, I m working as fast as I can! Usage notes: usually used as an instruction, as in the example …   New idioms dictionary

  • hold your horses — If someone tells you to hold your horses, you are doing something too fast and they would like you to slow down …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • hold your horses — wait a minute, hold on, hold the phone    When I said the accident was his fault, he said, Hold your horses! …   English idioms

  • Hold your horses! — np Wait a minute. Hold your horses! We have plenty of time. 1840s …   Historical dictionary of American slang

  • hold your horses —    If someone tells you to hold your horses, you are doing something too fast and they would like you to slow down.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • Hold your horses —   If someone tells you to hold your horses. you are doing something too fast and they would like you to slow down …   Dictionary of English idioms

  • hold your horses! — hold on!, wait a minute!, slow down! …   English contemporary dictionary

  • hold your horses — Synonyms and related words: abide, await, bide, bide the issue, dally, dawdle, delay, dillydally, hang about, hang around, hold everything, hold on, linger, loiter, mark time, sit tight, sit up, stay, stay up, stick around, take time, tarry, wait …   Moby Thesaurus

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