"pull in one's horns" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to the behaviour of a snail when it is threatened.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pulls in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulling in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "pull in one's horns (third-person singular simple present pulls in one's horns, present participle pulling in one's horns, simple past and past participle pulled in one's horns)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Anthony Trollope, chapter 7, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1912, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Adventures of Sally",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950 October 30, “The Press: Time to Pause”, in Time",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 April 6, Susan Warner, “Fighting Off the Chains”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-09-10",
          "text": "\"Smaller hardware stores in the area were scared,\" he said. \"They stopped making investments. They pulled in their horns.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate."
      ],
      "id": "en-pull_in_one's_horns-en-verb-jZ5I73cP",
      "links": [
        [
          "impassioned",
          "impassioned"
        ],
        [
          "aggressive",
          "aggressive"
        ],
        [
          "argumentative",
          "argumentative"
        ],
        [
          "restraint",
          "restraint"
        ],
        [
          "yield",
          "yield"
        ],
        [
          "capitulate",
          "capitulate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "calm down"
        },
        {
          "word": "chill"
        },
        {
          "word": "chill out"
        },
        {
          "word": "cool off"
        },
        {
          "word": "cool one's jets"
        },
        {
          "word": "hold one's horses"
        },
        {
          "word": "settle down"
        },
        {
          "word": "draw in one's horns"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pull in one's horns.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bc/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pull in one's horns"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to the behaviour of a snail when it is threatened.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pulls in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulling in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pulled in one's horns",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "pull in one's horns (third-person singular simple present pulls in one's horns, present participle pulling in one's horns, simple past and past participle pulled in one's horns)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Anthony Trollope, chapter 7, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1912, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Adventures of Sally",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950 October 30, “The Press: Time to Pause”, in Time",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 April 6, Susan Warner, “Fighting Off the Chains”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-09-10",
          "text": "\"Smaller hardware stores in the area were scared,\" he said. \"They stopped making investments. They pulled in their horns.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "impassioned",
          "impassioned"
        ],
        [
          "aggressive",
          "aggressive"
        ],
        [
          "argumentative",
          "argumentative"
        ],
        [
          "restraint",
          "restraint"
        ],
        [
          "yield",
          "yield"
        ],
        [
          "capitulate",
          "capitulate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To become less impassioned, aggressive, or argumentative; to exercise restraint; to yield or capitulate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pull in one's horns.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bc/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/En-au-pull_in_one%27s_horns.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "calm down"
    },
    {
      "word": "chill"
    },
    {
      "word": "chill out"
    },
    {
      "word": "cool off"
    },
    {
      "word": "cool one's jets"
    },
    {
      "word": "hold one's horses"
    },
    {
      "word": "settle down"
    },
    {
      "word": "draw in one's horns"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pull in one's horns"
}