get run out of town on a rail

get run out of town on a rail

1. obsolete To be forced to straddle a fence rail held aloft by members of an extrajudicial mob, then carried to the edge of town and dumped outside of its limits. I sat atop the roof of the saloon, watching as that no-good shyster got run out of town on a rail by all the people he had cheated. But if they find out I'm the one who's been stealing the livestock, I'll get run out of town on a rail! Have you lost your mind? If anyone else saw you canoodling the mayor's wife, you'd get run out of town on a rail!

2. By extension, to be forced by public pressure to leave some place, usually due to one's indiscretions or misdeeds. Now that this scandal is public knowledge, I'm afraid that I'm going to get run out of town on a rail. When people found out that my grandmother was having an affair while my grandfather was fighting in the war, she got run out of town on a rail. Those jokers were run out of town on a rail in January, but it looks like they're back, and, once again, disturbing the peace.

See also: get, of, on, out, rail, run, town

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