Dictionary

read someone the riot act en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The Riot Act is a historical British Act of Parliament enacted in 1714, which stated that once a statutory warning was read out to rioters and they failed to disperse within one hour, then authorities may use any force to disperse them with impunity.

Meanings

1. (figuratively) To scold or berate somebody; to reprimand.
   • March mellowed into April. May read a gorgeous riot act to the parks and waters of Manhattan, and they were very happy. 1920 September, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “Head and Shoulders”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 110:
   • She really read him the riot act about his smoking habit.
   • He had Lyle on the carpet. He had summarily called him down to his office to read him the riot act. 1993, Ruth M. Sprague, Wild Justice:
   • But Will insisted mildly that it was a rough way to treat friends; whereupon Satanta read the riot act to his high-spirited young men, and bade them return the captured weapons to the scout. 1899, Helen Cody Wetmore, Last of the Great Scouts:
2. (Commonwealth, UK, archaic, historical) To give a formal warning for a riotous assembly to disperse, usually through reading a section of the Riot Act.
   • ‘Nothing but vigorous measures will do in these times, Grummer,’ said the magistrate, in a determined manner. ‘If the authority of the king’s officers is set at naught, we must have the riot act read. If the civil power cannot protect these windows, Grummer, the military must protect the civil power, and the windows too. 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
   • To take infinite precautions, they complained, against the juvenile perusal of such eminently innocuous literature was like reading the Riot Act on an uninhabited island. 1911, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “Ministers of Grace”, in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: The Bodley Head:
   • He made it sound as though we were all a lot of Adelphi heroes and ought to be promoted and have medals, but when Lord Russell started in to read the Riot Act at us I began to believe that hanging was too good for me. I’m sure I never knew I was disturbing the peace of nations; it seems like such a large order for a subaltern. 1899, Richard Harding Davis, The Lion and the Unicorn:
   • He wades right in for a showdown, an' nails Billy outside, before everybody, an' reads the riot act. 1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, book I, page 54:
   • The Riot Act was read with the rapidity with which grace is sometimes said at the head of a public table—a ceremony of which none but the performer and his immediate friends are conscious. 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
   • To do things “railroad fashion” is now the by-word; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track. There is no stopping to read the riot act, no firing over the heads of the mob, in this case. 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
   • I'd read the Riot Act. They'll be lootin' this house next! 1917 June (first performance), John Galsworthy, “The Foundations (an Extravagant Play)”, in Plays: Fourth Series, volume IV, London: Duckworth and Co. […], published 1920, →OCLC, Act III, page 63:
   • What difference does it make what she meant? There's jumpers left—two on Bud's place—and he's oary-eyed over it, and was going to read 'em the riot act proper, when I left to come over here. 1915, B. M. Bower, The Flying U's Last Stand:

Forms

Relateds

Riot Act · lay down the law

Synonyms

reproach · charge · eat someone alive · slash · lecture · chew out · rebuke · slate · rubbish · censure · criticize · denunciate · objurgate · dispraise · excoriate · reprimand · condemn · read somebody the riot act · blame · tear into · savage · reprove · find fault · berate · pooh-pooh · tosh · bash · inveigh · vituperate · dress down · threap · animadvert · get down · scorch · tick off · skewer · scold · castigate · chide · light into · admonish · slam · lay into · denounce · chastise · reprehend · berisp · tilt · get at · give somebody a piece of one's mind · lace into · cannonade · put someone on blast · bawl out · lambaste · give somebody what-for · fulminate · blast · keelhaul · get up · deprecate · tell off · rip into · derogate · drag · vilify · lash · rate · upbraid

Translations (15)

cy dweud y drefn (wrth) (scold or berate) · nl iemand de les lezen (scold or berate) · it rimproverare (scold or berate) · es regañar (scold or berate) · it dare una lavata di capo (scold or berate) · de die Leviten lesen (scold or berate) · ru устро́ить головомойку (scold or berate) · fr rappeler à l'ordre (scold or berate) · pt passar o maior sabão (scold or berate) · es leer la cartilla (scold or berate) · es cantar las cuarenta (scold or berate) · fr chanter la messe en breton (scold or berate) · pt dar um sermão (scold or berate) · ca posar les peres a quarto (scold or berate) · fi lukea madonluvut (scold or berate)