Hold your horses

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"Hold your horses", sometimes said as "Hold the horses", is a common idiom to mean "hold on" or wait, which is believed to have originated in the United States of America in the 19th century and is historically related to horse riding, or driving a horse-drawn vehicle.

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[edit] Use

The phrase is typically used when someone is rushing in to something. It is often combined with linked idioms such as , cool your jets, or look before you leap. However it also has a more literal meaning and in certain circumstances is the preferred idiom to use. "Hold your horses" literally means to keep your horse (or horses) still, which would be used when horse riding, or driving a horse-drawn vehicle. Thus it is very easy for someone without previously hearing the expression to understand its meaning. Someone is to wait for a moment. It is usually followed up with an explanation to demonstrate why they should wait. For example, "Hold your horses, you haven't thought about this yet."

[edit] By country

[edit] Australia

In Australia, the term has established significant cultural meaning[citation needed], and is used by "true blue" Australians[citation needed] , who typically have a broad accent[citation needed] and couple it with words such as mate and sheila[citation needed]. For example, it may be, "Hold your horses mate, strewth you haven't even got the sheila to dance with you yet and you're already asking her to marry you? That's just asking for trouble". It is used as a way to express common sense[citation needed].

[edit] United States

The term is believed[who?] to originate in the United States in the 19th century. Similar idioms such as "keep your pants on", "cool your jets" and "don't get your cart in front of your horse" are often also used.

[edit] References