pull in one's horns
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pull in one's horns
Where it comes from
In reference to the behaviour of a snail when it is threatened.
verb pulls in one's horns · pulling in one's horns · pulled in one's horns · draw in one's horns
- To become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate. Barry . . . stood, during this tirade, half stupefied with rage, and half frightened, at the open attack made on him. . . . However, he couldn't pull in his horns now, and he was obliged, in self-defence, to brazen it out.
