hold the reins

idiom

: to be in control
They held the reins of government/power.

Examples of hold the reins in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The New Democrat Coalition, a group of 100 pragmatic moderate and liberal House Democrats, proposed a slate of 15 largely bipartisan bills the House could take up this year — or next year if Democrats hold the reins of the majority. Leigh Ann Caldwell, Washington Post, 31 July 2024 Dubbed the Five Little Queens, the supervisors hold the reins of a kingdom astounding in its scope by any metric. Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2024 Ancient Roman cavalry fittings — parts of a horse bridle, a ring used to hold the reins and four discs from a harness — were also found. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024 Is Governor Mike DeWine and the rest of the Republicans who keep breaking the rules to hold the reins of power again facing a potential contempt of court citation? Laura Johnston, cleveland, 31 Mar. 2022 While respecting our differences, those who hold the reins of power in our nations, businesses and communities must use their influence to bring us together. Time, 12 Jan. 2023 In the meantime, both of them, and Patricia, continue to be tight-lipped about who will hold the reins of the new offense in next week’s season opener. Andrew Callahan, Hartford Courant, 29 Aug. 2022 Is governor Mike DeWine and the rest of the Republicans who keep breaking the rules to hold the reins of power again, facing potential contempt of court citations because of their gerrymandering. Laura Johnston, cleveland, 31 Mar. 2022 Social democratic politicians hold the reins in a growing number of European countries, along with the Democrats in Washington. Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Oct. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hold the reins.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Hold the reins.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hold%20the%20reins. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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