Dictionary

bring to book en · VERB

Meanings

1. (UK) To penalise someone for a punishable offence.
   • It was a little matter of unauthorized and incendiary correspondence between a person who claimed to be the ultimate authority in all matters of the Mohammedan religion throughout the world, and a younger member of a royal house who had been brought to book for kidnapping women within British territory. 1901, Rudyard Kipling, Kim:
   • For the most part this happens in Britain, but there can be chilling lapses in the most serious cases, as was seen in the pall thrown over Blair Peach's killing for 30 years, and in the failure to bring the Met to book over the de Menezes case, other than through health and safety laws. 2011 May 4, Ian Tomlinson, “Unlawfully killed by the law”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2016:
   • The perpetrators of this atrocity must be brought to book.
   • [Indira] Jaising is openly irritated that she was brought to book after being credited with landmark human rights cases and helping to draft India's domestic violence law. 2024 February 17, John Reed, “Modi is supposed to represent all of us”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

Forms

Relateds

throw the book at · bring to justice