lace into

verb

1. intr, preposition to attack violently, either verbally or physically

Idioms and Phrases

Also, light into . Attack, assail, as in He laced into me for arriving late , or She lit into him for forgetting the tickets . The first of these colloquial terms employs lace in the sense of “beat up or thrash,” a usage dating from the late 1500s. The idiom with light dates from the late 1800s and stems from the verb meaning “descend.”

Related Words

• allege
• assert
• charge
• claim
• defend
• dispute
• insist
• maintain
• say
• tell
• urge