pull in one's horns

present singular third person pulls in one's horns · participle present pulling in one's horns · participle past pulled in one's horns · past pulled in one's horns · alternative draw in one's horns

1. idiomaticTo become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate.

   "Smaller hardware stores in the area were scared," he said. "They stopped making investments. They pulled in their horns."

   2003 April 6, Susan Warner, “Fighting Off the Chains”, in New York Times, retrieved 10 Sep 2012

   4 more examples

   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.

   1848, Anthony Trollope, chapter 7, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys

   "I see Cooky's finish," I heard Smoke say to Horner. "You bet," was the reply. "Hump runs the galley from now on, and Cooky pulls in his horns."

   1904, Jack London, chapter 9, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC

   Anyone else would have pulled in his horns and gone slow for a spell, but he's one of those fellows whose horse is always going to win the next race.

   1912, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Adventures of Sally

   Editor & Publisher Edwin Palmer Hoyt decided to pull in his horns. Said Hoyt: "We've decided it is time to pause, recapitulate and prepare to recommence."

   1950 October 30, “The Press: Time to Pause”, in Time

   Synonyms: calm down, chill, chill out, cool off, cool one's jets, hold one's horses, settle down