bring to heel
bring to heel verb: to compel someone to obey; to force someone into a submissive condition.
Verb
bring to heel (third-person singular simple present brings to heel, present participle bringing to heel, simple past and past participle brought to heel)
- To compel someone to obey; to force someone into a submissive condition.
- They wanted a lesson, and they would get it; but it would take three months at least to bring them to heel.1906, John Galsworthy, chapter 12, in The Forsyte Saga, Part I
- Even some fellow Conservatives maintain that Sir William has shown a dangerously authoritarian streak since enlisting as a general in Mrs. Thatcher's single-minded campaign to bring broadcasters to heel.1988 June 10, Howell Raines, “Journal: In Tory Country, Someone to Watch Over TV”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Jan 2012
- To cause to act in a disciplined manner.
Forms of bring to heel
| third-person singular present | brings to heel |
|---|---|
| present participle | bringing to heel |
| past participle | brought to heel |
| past | brought to heel |
| alternative form | call to heel |
Origin of bring to heel
From the command to make a dog closely follow its master.
Questions about bring to heel
- What does bring to heel mean?
- Bring to heel means to compel someone to obey; to force someone into a submissive condition.
- What part of speech is bring to heel?
- Bring to heel is a verb.
- What is the past tense of bring to heel?
- The past tense of bring to heel is brought to heel.
Words near bring to heel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bring to heel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bring to heel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bring to heel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bring_to_heel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.