kick over the traces

Idioms and Phrases

Break loose from restraint, misbehave. For example, There's always one child who'll kick over the traces as soon as the bell rings . This metaphoric expression alludes to the straps attaching a horse to a vehicle, which the animal sometimes gets a leg over in order to kick more freely and thereby refuse to move forward. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

That made voters kick over the traces again.

From Los Angeles Times

“That was really quite courageous . . . to be a trustee and a whistleblower at the same time. His eye was really sharp to the way things should go, and if they weren’t going right, he’d kick over the traces.”

From Washington Post

But the indispensable man doesn't exist, my good Jules, and the moment you kick over the traces, out you go!

From Project Gutenberg

“By Myself” had a similar air of sassy defiance, as though the ever-demure and elegant Ms. Carroll had decided at long last to kick over the traces: gently, I should add, with a delicate tap of a toe.

From New York Times

Carleigh might kick over the traces of betrothal and marriage, incited by an unconventional matron from the States, but he couldn't think of defying the convention which forbids gentlemen to leave the dinner-table until the ladies have had a quarter of an hour, at the very least, to themselves in which to exchange confidences.

From Project Gutenberg