Kathy Cao
2021-08-28 12:08
To lower the boom (on someone or something) American informal verb phrase
To punish someone or something severely
The boss really lowered the boom on us this week. He was furious that we failed to meet our sales targets and some of my co-workers are afraid that they might lose their jobs.
Well, My mom lowered the boom on me because I had come home after curfew yesterday.
To put a stop to something
Let's lower the boom on bullying on social media.
The government needs to enact stricter laws to lower the boom on robbing.
Once something has been done, you can do nothing but face the consequences.
White lie
Act in a way that is likely to cause problems for you
The verb "lower" should be conjugated according to its tense.
The idiom “lower the boom” has a nautical origin. A Boom: The horizontal support for the foot of the mainsail which extends aft of the mast. This is what you want to watch out for when changing directions in a sailboat. It can give you quite a wallop on the head if it hits you.
Booms are also used to move scenery in the backstage of theatres. If someone actually lowered a boom upon your head, you would be knocked out. If you were struck in the head by the boom, you would be rendered unconscious and awaken with a rather nasty headache.
“Lower the boom” means to chastise rather sternly and harshly reprimand someone who did something bad. It means to be scolded and severely punished. When someone “lowers the boom” they are acting forcefully in their punishment. “Lowers the boom” is another way of saying “throw the book at him". This is not a particularly popular saying and isn’t used rarely. It does, however, show case how rich the English language is, drawing from a wide range of sources.
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