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to heel
Close behind someone, as in The dog started chasing the car but Miriam called him to heel . This expression is used almost solely in reference to dogs. The heel in this idiom, first recorded in 1810, is the person's.
Under control or discipline, as in By a series of surprise raids the police brought the gang members to heel . This expression alludes to controlling a dog by training it to follow at one's heels. [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
The Trump administration is using federal money—and the withholding thereof—as a way to bring universities like Columbia and Penn to heel.
Nicolls and his emissaries were to bring the Puritans there to heel, to compel them to put aside recent differences and respect the king and his government.
If Trump's goal is to encourage Ukraine and Russia to enter peace talks, he has effectively brought Zelensky to heel, even as it remains unclear what concessions he is asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to make during those negotiations.
Trump and his agents have decided that this cadre of neutral judicial officers exercising independent factual and legal judgment within the executive branch must be brought to heel.
Democratic states like California, for instance, might be inclined to ignore White House directives and federal laws they don't like - and Trump would be hard pressed to use the courts to bring them to heel.
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