lay down the law

Meaning

1. Oxford100% of films

   to tell sb with force what they should or should not do

   Lay down the law if you're feeling brave.

   It's time to lay down the law.

In the movies · 2

• It's time to lay down the law.Transformers: Dark of the Moon2011
• Lay down the law if you're feeling brave.Doctor Who The Time of the Doctor2013
• You thought, "I'm gonna lay down the law for this nigga,Zack and Miri Make a Porno2008
• Yeah. That stuff you wear, you think it's a uniform that makes you some kind of cop, laying down the law, throwing your weight around.Lilies of the Field1963

From the same entry

• be a law unto yourself
• go to law
• law and order
• the law of averages
• the law of the jungle
• take the law into your own hands
• there's no law against
• the letter of the law
• possession is nine tenths of the law
• the rule of law
• on the wrong side of the law