Stop bucketin' down, by the sound of it (4,2)
I believe the answer is:
rein in
'stop' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rein in that I've seen before include "Person of great power" , "Control" , "Restrain (someone)" .)