词汇 | throw the book at |
词源 | throw the book at. Sorry, but I can find no record of a judge literally throwing a law book at a convicted criminal. However, during the Prohibition gangster era many judges did figurative- ly throw the contents of law books at criminals when sentenc- ing them, imposing every penalty found in books of law for their particular crimes. In underworld argot the book came to mean the maximum penalty that could be imposed for a crime, especially life imprisonment. Although its original meaning is still common, the metaphor has come to stand for penalties much less severe as well, sometimes nothing more serious than a parent taking away the car keys from a child as a punishment for coming in too late. |
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