take the studs

present singular third person takes the studs · participle present taking the studs · past took the studs · participle past taken the studs

1. MidlandsSouthern USTo act in a balky and uncooperative manner.

   Pap has taken the studs, and I have made up my mind to leave here for good and all.

   1891, Joel Chandler Harris, Balaam and His Master

   2 more examples

   When I was eight years old my mother started me to an old water mill with two bushels of corn to get meal and put me on an old mule named "John," put a spur on my right heel to make the old mule go if he took the studs.

   1918, History of Corporal Fess Whitaker, pages 10–11

   She said, "When I was passing Wily B. Smiths," who was the hoot'n‑toot'n lad "Tanner" adopted, "the mule I was riding took the studs and began going backwards. Try as I did, it wouldn't budge forward."

   1997, Arlena Collins Francis, Knott, My Beloved