to bring to heel
3
7.6
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
someter
- Obama needs to rein in Iran's nuke ambitions as much as he needs to bring Israel to heel.
You know, they were pinned to the floor and Trump, you know, brought them to heel and made them cry uncle.
- You know, they were pinned to the floor and Trump, you know, brought them to heel and made them cry uncle.
Examples
-
In other cases, as in the recent St. Louis ordinations, the hierarchy has tried various tactics aimed at bringing these women to heel.
Blog text (23) -
Once grown, it's hard to bring such a creature to heel.
Fiction book (1993) -
"She picked up her bag, certain the threat would bring the girl quickly to heel."
Fiction book (1995) -
There will be no Tech City in London if BT is not brought to heel.
Blog text (31) -
We will need all our cunning To bring them to heel.
-
I have some knowledge Of how best to bring such rogues to heel.
-
But the most important thing is not to give up on bringing the miscreants to heel.
Blog text (34) -
The persian king, Darius, annoyed by the notion of Greek freedom, has come to Greece to bring us to heel.
-
Although employers sought to bring labor to heel by appealing to workers' sense of ethnic community, for the first time, employers were forced to demonstrate publicly that their class interests overrode ethnic loyalties to workers.
Academic text (2000) -
The trainer used strict commands to bring the unruly dog to heel.
Synonyms
258
4.8
Force someone to do something or make them feel they must
91
6.4
Force someone to do something by threats
62
7.7
To bring a person or group under the control of another
37
5.5
To bring a person or thing under control, often by force
19
6.7
Use force to stop protests or opposition
5
6.8
To use firm authority to make people work harder and follow rules
Antonyms
How Obedient
37
5.5
- Informal
3
7.6
∞
2.4
47
3.4
472
2.7
54
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is motivated by the literal image of ‘bringing’ someone to ‘heel’ (making them follow or be under control), so a learner who knows the constituent senses can get a sense of physical control. However, the extension to forcing obedience or submission is metaphorical and idiomatic enough that a B1 learner who has not encountered the phrase may not predict the full social/figurative meaning, making it partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
Bring to heel comes from dog and horse training: a trainer would bring an animal to the heel, the place next to the trainer's leg, so the animal stayed close and obeyed. So the phrase now means 'to force someone or something to obey'.