📖 Meaning
Literally 'pulling in the reins at the edge of a precipice.' It describes pulling back just in time before disaster strikes, like stopping a galloping horse at the cliff's edge. The idiom is a metaphor for recognizing danger and turning back before it is too late.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase is most famously associated with the Qing dynasty scholar Ji Yun (纪昀), who recorded it in his collection 'Notes from the Thatched Study of Close Observations' (阅微草堂笔记). In one story, a scholar is praised for exercising restraint at a critical moment rather than giving in to temptation or recklessness, and is described as having 'reined in his horse at the edge of the cliff,' which Ji Yun calls the mark of true wisdom. The expression has since become a common metaphor for pulling back from the brink of danger.
💡 Example Usage
事情还没有到无法挽回的地步，你现在悬崖勒马还来得及。
It's not yet too late to turn things around—if you rein in now, there's still time.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 悬崖勒马
- Pinyin: xuán yá lè mǎ
- Literal Translation: steep cliff, rein in, horse
- Category: Wisdom
- Characters: 4