Choose the option that best expresses the meaning of the idiom "to clip someone's wings" when used about a person's freedom or power.

Introduction / Context:
The idiom to clip someone's wings uses the image of a bird whose wings are shortened so that it cannot fly freely. In English, this vivid picture is applied to people whose freedom, power, or opportunities are deliberately limited by another person or by circumstances. Exams frequently test this idiom because it is both common and easy to misunderstand if you focus only on the literal bird image. Understanding it improves your ability to interpret figurative language about control and restriction.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The idiom is to clip someone's wings.
• The metaphor comes from birds that cannot fly after their wings are clipped.
• We are dealing with a figurative meaning applied to people, not animals.
• The options cover excitement, restriction, secret laughter, and living within means.

Concept / Approach:
When we say that someone has clipped another person's wings, we mean that they have reduced that person's freedom to act, move, or make choices. It can also refer to reducing influence, power, or resources so that the person cannot achieve as much as before. For example, a strict parent might clip a teenager's wings by restricting outings, or a new rule might clip a manager's wings by taking away certain powers. The idiom does not mean getting carried away, laughing, or careful budgeting. Therefore, the correct meaning involves limiting or restricting freedom or power.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the image of a bird with clipped wings, which cannot fly far or high. Step 2: Transfer this image to a human context: a person whose freedom to act or move forward has been cut down. Step 3: Look among the options for a phrase that refers to restricting someone's freedom, power, or opportunities. Step 4: Option B, to restrict someone's freedom, power or opportunities, matches this metaphor perfectly. Step 5: Reject options about excitement, secret laughter, or frugal living, as they do not match the basic idea of limiting movement or power.

Verification / Alternative check:
Consider example sentences: The new regulations have clipped the company's wings, preventing it from expanding abroad. This sentence clearly means the regulations have restricted the company's freedom and opportunities. Another example: After the scandal, the minister's wings were clipped and he could no longer make big decisions. Again, the sense is reduced power and freedom. Replacing to clip someone's wings with to restrict someone's freedom, power or opportunities maintains the meaning. Using any of the other options would distort the idea completely.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
To be carried away with excitement: This is wrong because clipping wings suggests limiting movement, not losing control due to excitement.
To laugh secretly at someone: This is wrong because secret laughter does not involve taking away freedom or power; a different idiom such as laugh up one's sleeve might cover that idea.
To live strictly within one's limited means: This is wrong because living within means is about careful spending, not necessarily about someone else limiting your freedom to act.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse to clip someone's wings with idioms about being carried away or letting one's hair down because they focus on emotional energy rather than control. Others may think the idiom is about physical harm because of the reference to wings. To avoid these mistakes, always link the idiom to its core metaphor: a bird that cannot fly cannot enjoy its full freedom, so a person with clipped wings cannot fully exercise power or opportunity either.

Final Answer:
The idiom to clip someone's wings means To restrict someone's freedom, power or opportunities.