lace into

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lace into

1. To tighten and tie up the laces of some clothing or equipment one or someone else is wearing. In this usage, a name or pronoun can be used after "lace" when talking about someone else. He laced into his boots and skated out onto the ice. Could you lace me into this dress? It's too tight to do it myself.

2. To verbally attack, berate, or upbraid someone. You need to stop lacing into the kids during practice like that, Tom. They're just doing soccer for fun. The president laced into the reporter for asking what he called a disrespectful question.

See also: lace

lace someone into something

to tighten the laces of something someone is wearing. Sally helped Billy lace himself into his boots. The maid laced Gloria into her corset.

See also: lace

lace into someone or something

and light into someone or something

Fig. to attack, devour, or scold someone or something. We laced into a big meal of pork and beans. The bully punched John once, and then John really laced into him. John lit into him with both fists.

See also: lace

lace into

Also, light into. Attack, assail, as in He laced into me for arriving late, or She lit into him for forgetting the tickets. The first of these colloquial terms employs lace in the sense of "beat up or thrash," a usage dating from the late 1500s. The idiom with light dates from the late 1800s and stems from the verb meaning "descend."

See also: lace

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lace into

To attack or assail someone: The captain laced into me for getting to practice so late.