(See also IMPETUOUSNESS.)

champ at the bit To show impatience; to wait restlessly or anxiously to begin. This expression, in figurative use since 1645, refers to the way a horse, eager to be off, chews on the bit in his mouth and stamps the ground with his hooves. Similar phrases with the same meaning are to bite the bridle, used figuratively since 1514, and to strain at the leash.

cool one’s heels To impatiently await the promised and supposedly imminent arrival of one or more persons, especially when the arrival has been intentionally and rudely delayed. Dating from the early 1600s, this expression is an allusion to the fact that one’s feet, hot from walking, are cooled by waiting in a stationary position.

sit upon hot cockles To be very impatient or restive; to be on pins and needles. “Hot Cockles” is the name of an ancient children’s game in which a blindfolded child tried to guess who had just struck him on the buttocks. Since sit on can mean ‘to await’ or ‘to be seated upon,’ to sit on hot cockles probably alludes either to one’s fidgety anticipation of the blow, or to the squirming discomfort of one who sits down after having been struck by an enthusiastic player.

soft fire makes sweet malt A proverbial expression meaning that reckless hur-riedness often spoils an undertaking or project.

Malt is burnt and its sweetness lost by too intense a fire. This expression, synonymous with the common phrase haste makes waste, is now rarely heard.