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lay down the law |
Also found in: Wikipedia | 0.04 sec. |
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lay down the law Related vocabulary: read someone the riot actto tell people what they should do, without caring about how they feel. I'm not going to have someone come into this office and start laying down the law. lay down the law to tell people what they must do, without caring about their opinions. I'm not going to let some new guy come into my office and start laying down the law. Riley laid down the law, telling his players, “We're going to play the game my way.” |
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? References in classic literature |
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Martin Poyser was not a frequenter of public houses, but he liked a friendly chat over his own home- brewed; and though it was pleasant to lay down the law to a stupid neighbour who had no notion how to make the best of his farm, it was also an agreeable variety to learn something from a clever fellow like Adam Bede. Is nothing more needed than to get a footing, by hook or by crook, in other people's houses to rule over the masters (and that, perhaps, after having been brought up in all the straitness of some seminary, and without having ever seen more of the world than may lie within twenty or thirty leagues round), to fit one to lay down the law rashly for chivalry, and pass judgment on knights-errant? Of course this is only PARTIALLY the truth; you cannot lay down the law for all. |
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lay down the law
