Meaning of bring to book | Babel Free

Definitions

To penalise someone for a punishable offence.

UK

Examples

“The perpetrators of this atrocity must be brought to book.”

“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.”

“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.”

“[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.”

CEFR level