the curb put into the mouths of horses to restrain them. The Hebrew word (metheg) so rendered in Ps 32:9 is elsewhere translated "bridle" (2Ki 19:28; Pr 26:3; Isa 37:29). Bits were generally made of bronze or iron, but sometimes also of gold or silver. In Jas 3:3 the Authorized Version translates the Greek word by "bits," but the Revised Version by "bridles."
Because your wrath against me and your words of pride have come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.
Do not be like the horse or the ass, without sense; ...
A whip for the horse, a mouth-bit for the ass, and a rod for the back of the foolish.
Because your wrath against me and your pride have come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.
Now if we put bits of iron into horses' mouths so that they may be guided by us, we have complete control of their bodies.
Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain