nip in the bud

Idioms  

1. Halt something at an early stage, or thoroughly check something. For example, By arresting all the leaders, they nipped the rebellion in the bud. This metaphoric expression, alluding to a spring frost that kills flower buds, was first recorded in a Beaumont and Fletcher play of 1606–1607.

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Example Sentences

But Friday’s moves now stand to nip in the bud the risk of any resurgence of the democracy movement, founded after Beijing’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

From Reuters

“We’re trying to nip in the bud,”“He’s been throwing balls and doing things,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

From Seattle Times

“The concern is that there were hundreds of acquisitions by big companies like Facebook and Google that were intended to nip in the bud the firms that might have ended up being important competitors and innovators that could have changed the paradigm,” said A. Douglas Melamed, a professor at Stanford Law School and former antitrust official at the Justice Department.

From New York Times

Brown said McLaren wanted to nip in the bud any speculation about drivers at a time of the year when other teams were seeking alternatives.

From Reuters

“My fastball location was a little off, my tempo was a little off, I mean those are just between-year fixes that I can get back out there and . . . I need to pick up my tempo and that’s when usually everything sinks in, and my fastball location comes off that. That’s an easy nip in the bud.”

From Washington Post