lay down the law
Assert something positively and often arrogantly, state something dogmatically. For example, Dad laid down the law about locking up the house. This colloquial expression, first recorded in 1762, uses lay down in the sense of def. 2.
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Words nearby lay down the law
lay clerk, lay day, lay days, laydeez, laydown, lay down the law, layer, layer board, layer cake, layering, layer of rods and cones
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.