to draw in one's horns
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To retrench, to curtail one's expenditure; to retract, or miti- gate, a pronounced opinion; to restrain pride. The allusion is to the snail.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to draw in one's horns” mean?
To retrench, to curtail one's expenditure; to retract, or miti- gate, a pronounced opinion; to restrain pride. The allusion is to the snail.
Is “to draw in one's horns” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.