draw in (one's) horns

(redirected from draw in their horns)

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.

draw someone (or an animal)

out of something and draw someone or an animal out to lure someone or an animal out of something or some place. I thought the smell of breakfast would draw him out of his slumber. The catnip drew out the cat from under the front porch.

draw

( oneself ) aside [for someone] to move aside. I drew myself aside so the children could pass. He drew himself aside so Maggie could pass.

draw

( someone or something ) from something to sketch (someone or something) from a particular source, such as memory, real life, a photograph, etc. He is a very good artist. He can draw from a photograph or a painting. I will try to draw him from memory.

draw in one's horns and pull in one's horns

Fig. to back down from a fight. For a minute it looked like they were gonna start sluggin' each other, but then they drew in their horns. We tried to calm him down and get him to pull in his horns.

draw (or pull) in your horns

become less assertive or ambitious; draw back.

The image here is of a snail drawing in its retractile tentacles when disturbed.

1991 Paul Grescoe Flesh Wound Hollywood's major studios were pulling in their horns in the wake of a disastrous Christmas season.

draw/pull in your ˈhorns

start being more careful in your behaviour, especially by spending less money than before: After making huge losses, the company had to draw in its horns by cancelling some major projects.

draw

/get a bead on

To take careful aim at.

draw

/haul/pull in (one's) horns Informal

1. To restrain oneself; draw back.

2. To retreat from a previously taken position, view, or stance.

3. To economize.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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.