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Hold Your Horses

To be patient, to relax and slow down your pace, to wait

Etymology:

  • During 19th century in America, the phrase originated as an instruction or order to a carriage driver who was not controlling the speed of horses at all. A horse was stopped by pulling its reins; this was called as “holding the horses”. The phrase might have originated from harness racing. Rookie drivers are known to begin their horse too quickly; they are yelled by the starter “Hold their horses”! Today the phrase suggests being patient and holding your nerves in anything you do.
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We were getting late for the cinema, so it was really difficult for Jack to hold his horse while driving a car.

Submitted on February 25, 2019

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vänta lite nu

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    "Hold Your Horses." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/hold-your-horses_44769>.

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