Meanings
present singular third person holds one's horses · participle present holding one's horses · participle past held one's horses · past held one's horses
- idiomaticTo be patient; to wait.
"I'm going to tell you, ain't I?" he said, gruffly. "Just hold your horses a minute, please."
1921, Booth Tarkington, chapter 24, in Alice Adams1 more example
"I would ask everybody to hold their horses until we go through the process," ElBaradei said.
2007 September 17, “Force is last resort in Iranian crisis”, in forbes.com/Thomson Financial News, retrieved 05 Oct 2008Synonyms: hold one's water, abide, back that train up, bide, bide one's time, expect, defer, hang on
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo be patient; to wait.
Origin
A play on different senses of the word stable in the sense of a place where horses are held, and also in the sense of being steady and unerratic.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 耐心等待
- 耐心等待 (nàixīn děngdài)idiomatic: to be patient
Czech krotit se, držet se na uzdě
- krotit seidiomatic: to be patient
- držet se na uzděidiomatic: to be patient
Danish klappe hesten, spise brød til
- klappe hestenidiomatic: to be patient
- spise brød tilidiomatic: to be patient
Finnish pysyä housuissaan
- pysyä housuissaanidiomatic: to be patient
French minute, papillon, du calme
- minute, papillonidiomatic: to be patient
- du calmeidiomatic: to be patient
Icelandic róa sig, bíða
- róa sigidiomatic: to be patient
- bíðaidiomatic: to be patient
- stilla sigidiomatic: to be patient
Norwegian Bokmål ta det med ro, avvente
- ta det med roidiomatic: to be patient
- avventeidiomatic: to be patient
Polish czekać, (czekaj) chwilę
- czekaćidiomatic: to be patient
- (czekaj) chwilęidiomatic: to be patient
Portuguese aguentar os cavalos
- aguentar os cavalosidiomatic: to be patient
Russian придержи́ коне́й, попридержи́ коне́й
- придержи́ коне́й (priderží konéj)idiomatic: to be patient
- попридержи́ коне́й (popriderží konéj)idiomatic: to be patient
Spanish apaciguar sus aguas, parar el carro
- apaciguar sus aguasidiomatic: to be patient
- parar el carroidiomatic: to be patient
Ukrainian не жени́ ко́ней
- не жени́ ко́ней (ne žený kónej)idiomatic: to be patient
Cite this entry
hold one's horses. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20horses
“hold one's horses.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20horses. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hold one's horses,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20horses.
Source: hold one's horses on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.