# What does ‘hold your horses’ mean?

To “hold your horses” means to wait, slow down, be patient. A 19th-century American idiom from actual horse-driving; it is not in Brewer's 1898. It became widespread in the mid-1800s.

## What it means

- A 19th-century American idiom from actual horse-driving; it is not in Brewer's 1898. It became widespread in the mid-1800s.

## Action steps

1. Informal way to tell someone to pause before acting or speaking.
2. Example: Hold your horses — I haven't finished explaining yet.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

---
Canonical: https://bestidiomanswers.com/answers/hold-your-horses
Author: Best Idiom Answers — https://bestidiomanswers.com
Publisher: Best Idiom Answers
Published: 2026-07-18T04:16:34.287086+00:00
Modified: 2026-07-18T04:16:34.287086+00:00
Last verified: 2026-07-18
License: Citation License 1.0 — https://bestexpertanswers.com/license
© Adolicious LLC