throw the book at
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
You must have thrown the book at him, getting him to change his mind like that.
I mean we could cook it much more cheaply but we we do that then they'd just they'll throw the book at us, we can't do it.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Common questions
What does “throw the book at” mean?
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Is “throw the book at” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.