draw in (one's) horns

To act more cautiously than one did before. I just got this quarter's budget report, and we definitely need to draw in our horns and spend less going forward. I know you love riding your motorcycle, but you're a father now—it's time to draw in your horns. I've definitely drawn in my horns at work now that I know the boss thinks I distract my co-workers too much.

pull in (one's) horns

To begin to act more cautiously. I just got this quarter's budget report, and we definitely need to pull in our horns and spend less going forward.

draw/pull in one's horns, to

To retreat, to back down. This expression, which dates back at least to the mid-fourteenth century, refers to the practice of snails, which can withdraw the soft, projecting parts of their body inside their shell when they feel threatened. The snail has no genuine horns. Rather, the front end of its muscular foot has sensory tentacles that look a little like horns, whence the expression. About 1350 an unknown chronicler wrote about Richard the Lionhearted in a particular campaign, “They . . . gunne to drawen in their hornes as a snayle among the thornes.” It has been a cliché since about 1800.