horns

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

The feelers of a snail. Hence the proverb, To pull in the horns, To repress one's ardor.--Johnson. In the United States the phrase is, To haul in one's horns.


I tell you what, the highfliers that's been tryin' to be 'stockracy folkes has hauled in their horns since Crockett cut out.--Maj. Jones's Courtship.

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