- Home
- Idioms
- slap down
slap down
slap someone down
1. Lit. to cause someone to fall by striking with the open hand. she became enraged and slapped him down when he approached her again. Liz slapped down the insulting wretch.
2. Fig. to squelch someone; to rebuke or rebuff someone. I had a great idea, but the boss slapped me down. Don't slap down people without hearing what they have to say.
slap something down
to strike downward with something flat in one's hand. she slapped the dollar bill down in great anger and took her paper cup full of water away with her. Karen slapped down the money that the bailiff demanded.
slap somebody/something down
also slap down somebody/something to refuse to accept someone's plan or idea The judge slapped down every objection raised by the defense attorney. They applied for a permit and the building department slapped them down.
slap down
Restrain or correct emphatically, as in They thought he was getting far too arrogant and needed to be slapped down. This idiom, which literally means "inflict a physical blow," began to be used figuratively in the first half of the 1900s.
slap down
v.1. To restrain or correct someone with a sharp blow or forceful censure: The soldier slapped me down for talking back. The judge slapped down the defendant for speaking out of turn.
2. To put a sudden end to something; suppress something: We must slap this behavior down before it gets out of control. The school slapped down roughhousing on the playground after a child had been hurt.