read somebody the riot act also read the riot act to somebody
to strongly warn someone to stop behaving badly
Alice read Randi the riot act, telling her, “If you don't like it here, you can just go back where you came from.” | The secretary of state said she plans to read the riot act to the country's leaders during meetings next week.
He'd put up with a lot of bad behaviour from his son and thought it was time to read him the riot act.
The teacher read the students the riot act for their failure to do their assignments.
She really read him the riot act about his smoking habit. (Wiktionary)
Related vocabulary: lay down the law
Etymology: based on the Riot Act (an English law of 1715 that provided a way to deal with a crowd of people who were causing trouble).
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/riot
επιπλήττω αυστηρά
απευθύνω αυστηρή προειδοποίηση
Όχι ακριβώς:
εφιστώ την προσοχή
κρούω τον κώδωνα του κινδύνου
επειδή χρησιμοποιούνται για πράγματα για τα οποία μπορεί να μην είμαστε υπεύθυνοι.
To this day many jurisdictions that have inherited the tradition of English common law and Scots law still employ statutes that require police or other executive agents to deliver an oral warning, much like the Riot Act, before an unlawful public assembly may be forcibly dispersed.
Because the authorities were required to read the proclamation that referred to the Riot Act before they could enforce it, the expression "to read the Riot Act" entered into common language as a phrase meaning "to reprimand severely", with the added sense of a stern warning. The phrase remains in everyday use in the English language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Act#.22Read_the_Riot_Act.22
to strongly warn someone to stop behaving badly
Alice read Randi the riot act, telling her, “If you don't like it here, you can just go back where you came from.” | The secretary of state said she plans to read the riot act to the country's leaders during meetings next week.
He'd put up with a lot of bad behaviour from his son and thought it was time to read him the riot act.
The teacher read the students the riot act for their failure to do their assignments.
She really read him the riot act about his smoking habit. (Wiktionary)
Related vocabulary: lay down the law
Etymology: based on the Riot Act (an English law of 1715 that provided a way to deal with a crowd of people who were causing trouble).
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/riot
επιπλήττω αυστηρά
απευθύνω αυστηρή προειδοποίηση
Όχι ακριβώς:
εφιστώ την προσοχή
κρούω τον κώδωνα του κινδύνου
επειδή χρησιμοποιούνται για πράγματα για τα οποία μπορεί να μην είμαστε υπεύθυνοι.
To this day many jurisdictions that have inherited the tradition of English common law and Scots law still employ statutes that require police or other executive agents to deliver an oral warning, much like the Riot Act, before an unlawful public assembly may be forcibly dispersed.
Because the authorities were required to read the proclamation that referred to the Riot Act before they could enforce it, the expression "to read the Riot Act" entered into common language as a phrase meaning "to reprimand severely", with the added sense of a stern warning. The phrase remains in everyday use in the English language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Act#.22Read_the_Riot_Act.22
