put the brakes on | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic,transitive)Tostop(an event, action, or process) or toslow it down.1903,Frank Norris, “Two Hearts That Beat as One”, inA Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West:"[T]he fight I saw that day made the others look like a young ladies' quadrille. . . . [Y]ou could no more separate them two than you couldput the brakes ona blame earthquake."1953July 6, “The Economy: Loosening Up the Pinch”, inTime, retrieved31 May 2015:Havingput the brakes oncredit expansion by raising interest rates, Humphrey last week decided the time had come to step on the gas.2008January 22, “French court puts brakes on merger of Gaz de France and Suez”, inNew York Times, retrieved31 May 2015:A French court on Tuesdayput the brakes onthe merger of the utilities Gaz de France and Suez.; (idiomatic,intransitive)Toceaseto perform one's current activity or todecreaseone's level of activity.1989July, Nancy Griffin, “Poetry Man: Robin Williams andDead Poets Society”, inPremiere Magazine, retrieved31 May 2015:"It would have been so easy for him to have the kids rolling on the floor, doubled up with laughter. So he had toput the brakes onat times."2011March 13, John M. Broder, “U.S. Nuclear Industry Faces New Uncertainty”, inNew York Times, retrieved31 May 2015:“I think it calls on us here in the U.S., naturally, not to stop building nuclear power plants but toput the brakes onright now until we understand the ramifications of what’s happened in Japan,” Senator Joseph I. Lieberman . . . said.

Examples:

EN: And I want to know, if something can't be done. To put the brakes on these youngsters and to improve their prospects.
ES: Me gustaría saber si es posible tranquilizar a esos jóvenes y mejorar su porvenir.
EN: - Hey Fangio! ...put the brakes on!
ES: - ¡Eh, Fangio... pisa el freno!
EN: I'm not gonna put the brakes on my career now.
ES: No voy a frenar mi carrera ahora.
EN: He ran right out in front of my car. Didn't even have time to put the brakes on.
ES: Salió corriendo delante de mi coche.
EN: I had to put the brakes on...
ES: - Nada, se cruzó, frené...
EN: This is simply nature's way of telling you to put the brakes on... shut the motor off.
ES: Es sólo la forma en que la naturaleza nos dice que pisemos el freno... y apaguemos el motor.
EN: I did everything in my power to put the brakes on the investigation.
ES: Estoy haciendo todo lo posible para retrasar la investigación.
EN: I tell you Reinhold just put the brakes on things, like any decent guy should.
ES: Y tú, Reinhold, deberías poner un freno a esto... como cualquier hombre decente.
EN: It forced me to make some painful choices, so now I put the brakes on, before it's too late, before the road gets too steep, before my fears become reality!
ES: A veces me ha llevado a situaciones delicadas y ahora prefiero frenar antes de llegar a la pendiente peligrosa, cuando flota en el aire la sospecha de lo que más temo:
EN: Just put the brakes on a little sooner.
ES: Trate de detenerse un poco antes.
EN: Whoa, there, Dick, put the brakes on.
ES: Tranquilo, Dick. Pon los frenos.
EN: I kind of put the brakes on her career.
ES: Como que frené su carrera.
EN: She put the brakes on that kind of thing a long time ago.
ES: Ella detuvo ese tipo de cosa hace mucho tiempo.
EN: Once you get started on golabkis, it's hard to put the brakes on.
ES: Una vez que comienzas con los golabkis, es difícil frenar.
EN: Look, I know this is none of my business, but I really think you need to put the brakes on this relationship thing before things go too far.
ES: Mira, sé que no debería meterme pero creo que debes ponerle freno a esta relación antes de que las cosas vayan demasiado lejos.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).