rein someone in

Meaning: To bring someone under control.

Language: English

Literally: (Already vivid in English)

Example: “The board reined in the spending of the new director.”

Category: Animals

Origin: A rider pulls the reins to slow a horse. The figurative use is found from the 16th century.

Equivalents in other languages

German: an die Kandare nehmen — literally: to take someone to the curb-chain

smell a rat — To sense that something dishonest is going on.
have a bee in one's bonnet — To be obsessed with one idea.
when pigs fly — Never.
not turn a hair — To show no reaction at all.
two men and a dog — A very small crowd.
has the cat got your tongue? — Said to someone who stays silent when they should speak.

keep one's feet on the ground — To stay realistic and unaffected by success.
be pocket change — To be a trivial amount of money for the person paying.
become second nature — To become so familiar that one does it without thinking.
be a known quantity — To be someone whose character or ability is already understood.
take the rap — To accept blame or punishment, often for someone else.
you can't win them all — Said to console someone after a small failure.

Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.