put one's foot down, to
put (one's) foot down
To indicate that one is unyielding or inflexible in one's position or decision. The kids complained and complained when we refused to get a puppy, but we had to put our foot down. As a manager, you have to put your foot down sometimes, or your staff will walk all over you.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
put one's foot down (about someone or something)
Fig. to assert something strongly. The boss put her foot down and refused to accept any more changes to the plan.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
put one's foot down
Take a firm stand, as in She put her foot down and said we could not go to the carnival. This idiom alludes to setting down one's foot firmly, representing a firm position. [Late 1800s]
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.
put (one's) foot down
To take a firm stand.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
put one's foot down, to
To take a firm position. The analogy presumably is to setting one or both feet in a fixed position, representing a firm stand. Although versions of this term (usually with set one’s foot down) exist from the sixteenth century on, it became current only in the nineteenth century. The OED cites James Payn’s The Luck of the Darrells (1886): “She put her foot down . . . upon the least symptoms of an unpleasantry.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer