See throw the book at in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From the metaphor of a large book, containing all the possible laws broken or punishments for a particular crime, being thrown at an offender. Attested since at least 1897.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws the book at",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing the book at",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw the book at",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown the book at",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> the book at"
},
"expansion": "throw the book at (third-person singular simple present throws the book at, present participle throwing the book at, simple past threw the book at, past participle thrown the book at)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1903 September 9, “COURT THROWS BOOK AT HIM”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, page 5:",
"text": "COURT THROWS BOOK AT HIM: ... Thomas Pasco, beggar, got everything the statutes would permit Judge Binkle to give him yesterday afternoon.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To charge with or convict of as many crimes as possible."
],
"id": "en-throw_the_book_at-en-verb-5tLG-Ug-",
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic, informal) To charge with or convict of as many crimes as possible."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"informal",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "13 76 11",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1897 December 12, “Light Sentences for Criminals”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, page 16:",
"text": "[C]riminals ... dreaded to be brought into his court, as a conviction meant a severe sentence. As one criminal expressed it to another, \"The judge throws the book at you.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1926, Will James, Cowboys north and south, page 95:",
"text": "The judge, not weeping any, throws the book at him, which means he gives Bob the limit.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To apply the harshest possible punishment to."
],
"id": "en-throw_the_book_at-en-verb-ZBfqibv3",
"links": [
[
"harsh",
"harsh"
],
[
"punishment",
"punishment"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic, informal) To apply the harshest possible punishment to."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw the rulebook at"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"informal",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see throw, the, book, at."
],
"id": "en-throw_the_book_at-en-verb-t9AG2Tdj",
"links": [
[
"throw",
"throw#English"
],
[
"the",
"the#English"
],
[
"book",
"book#English"
],
[
"at",
"at#English"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
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"word": "throw the book at"
}
{
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
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"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "From the metaphor of a large book, containing all the possible laws broken or punishments for a particular crime, being thrown at an offender. Attested since at least 1897.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws the book at",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing the book at",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw the book at",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown the book at",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> the book at"
},
"expansion": "throw the book at (third-person singular simple present throws the book at, present participle throwing the book at, simple past threw the book at, past participle thrown the book at)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English informal terms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English transitive verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1903 September 9, “COURT THROWS BOOK AT HIM”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, page 5:",
"text": "COURT THROWS BOOK AT HIM: ... Thomas Pasco, beggar, got everything the statutes would permit Judge Binkle to give him yesterday afternoon.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To charge with or convict of as many crimes as possible."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic, informal) To charge with or convict of as many crimes as possible."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"informal",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English informal terms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English transitive verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1897 December 12, “Light Sentences for Criminals”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, page 16:",
"text": "[C]riminals ... dreaded to be brought into his court, as a conviction meant a severe sentence. As one criminal expressed it to another, \"The judge throws the book at you.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1926, Will James, Cowboys north and south, page 95:",
"text": "The judge, not weeping any, throws the book at him, which means he gives Bob the limit.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To apply the harshest possible punishment to."
],
"links": [
[
"harsh",
"harsh"
],
[
"punishment",
"punishment"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic, informal) To apply the harshest possible punishment to."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw the rulebook at"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"informal",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see throw, the, book, at."
],
"links": [
[
"throw",
"throw#English"
],
[
"the",
"the#English"
],
[
"book",
"book#English"
],
[
"at",
"at#English"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-throw the book at.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e5/En-au-throw_the_book_at.ogg/En-au-throw_the_book_at.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/En-au-throw_the_book_at.ogg"
}
],
"word": "throw the book at"
}
Download raw JSONL data for throw the book at meaning in English (3.1kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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