hold one's horses

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hold one's horses (third-person singular simple present holds one's horses, present participle holding one's horses, simple past and past participle held one's horses)

1. (idiomatic) To be patient; to wait.
   • 1921, Booth Tarkington, chapter 24, in Alice Adams:

     "I'm going to tell you, ain't I?" he said, gruffly. "Just hold your horses a minute, please."

   • 2007 September 17, “Force is last resort in Iranian crisis”, in forbes.com/Thomson Financial News, retrieved 5 Oct. 2008:

     "I would ask everybody to hold their horses until we go through the process," ElBaradei said.

• hold one's water; See also Thesaurus:wait

• back that train up