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Glite Dictionary
to lower the boom

to lower the boom

2 8.4
Punish someone strongly for bad behaviour
  • idiom
  • Slang
translation icon : imponer severas consecuencias
  • I wonder how far He will allow us to get before He lowers the boom on the good ol' USA?

Examples

  • As long as we don't lower the boom on the hedge funds, which is one thing I'm afraid is going to happen regardless, things will be better.

    Blog text (25)

  • The school decided to lower the boom on students who repeatedly broke the rules.

  • Which, to my mind, is all the more reason to lower the boom on Ozzie.

    Burn After Reading (2008)

  • Then he lowers the boom.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • So how could I have lowered the boom on the one and only protégée I was ever likely to have?

    Fiction book (1994)

  • After the scandal, the manager had no choice but to lower the boom on the employees involved.

  • The government plans to lower the boom on companies that violate environmental regulations.

Synonyms

to punish
vsto lower the boom
821 1.0

Make someone suffer for doing something wrong

focuses on especially severe or strict punishment rather than general suffering
to crack down
vsto lower the boom
63 3.8

To take strong action to stop illegal or wrong behavior

applies to punishing individuals, not only broad enforcement efforts
to penalize
vsto lower the boom
  • US
60 5.5

Punish someone or make them suffer a loss for breaking a rule

is harsher, implying strict or severe consequences beyond formal penalties
to clamp down on
vsto lower the boom
13 5.3

Take strong action to stop something bad or illegal

focuses on punishing particular wrongdoers rather than reducing practices generally
to throw the book at
vsto lower the boom
  • Informal
9 7.5

To punish someone as harshly as possible under the law

is severe punishment but may not mean the absolute maximum
to bring down the hammer
vsto lower the boom
  • Informal
1 8.2

To take firm action to punish someone

is about severe punishment but not only about decisive action

Antonyms

to reward
328 1.3

To give something to someone to thank them for doing something good

How Severe

to throw the book at
  • Informal
9 7.5
to lower the boom
  • Slang
2 8.4
to punish
821 1.0
to read the riot act
  • Informal
1 7.9
to reprimand
  • Formal
33 6.1

Surface Forms

lower the boom infinitive

Morphology

lower + the + boom

The literal meanings of 'lower' (to reduce or move down) and common senses of 'boom' (a loud noise or a pole) do not transparently yield 'punish someone severely'; the expression is a metaphorical idiom whose punitive sense is not predictable from its parts. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not seen the idiom before would very likely not infer the intended meaning, so it is opaque.

Etymology

Lower the boom may come from a simple picture where a heavy boom or big bar is lowered with a loud crash, like thunder. So when someone lowers the boom on a person, they bring down a strong punishment or strict rule, which is why it now means 'to punish someone severely'.