Riot Act

In some ways, Riot Act is the album that Pearl Jam has been wanting to make since Vitalogy- a muscular art rock record, one that still hits hard but that is filled with ragged edges and odd detours. Vitalogy found the band sketching out their ideas for their brand of artsy rock, separating bracing hard rock and experimentalism throughout that fascinating album, and since then they bounced.


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read (one) the riot act

To scold, reprimand, or reprove one severely for an error or mistake. I was read the riot act by my boss last week for messing up the accounting software.I know Mary messed up, but there was no need to read her the riot act for it.

read someone the riot act

Fig. to give someone a severe scolding. The manager read me the riot act for coming in late.The teacher read the students the riot act for their failure to do their assignments.

read the riot act

Warn or reprimand forcefully or severely, as in When he was caught throwing stones at the windows, the principal read him the riot act . This term alludes to an actual British law, the Riot Act of 1714, which required reading a proclamation so as to disperse a crowd; those who did not obey within an hour were guilty of a felony. [First half of 1800s]

read the riot act

give someone a strong warning that they must improve their behaviour.
The Riot Act was passed by the British government in 1715 in the wake of the Jacobite rebellion of that year and was designed to prevent civil disorder. The Act made it a felony for a group of twelve or more people to refuse to disperse after being ordered to do so and having being read a certain part of the Act by a person in authority. It was not repealed until 1967 .

read (somebody) the ˈRiot Act

(British English) tell somebody forcefully and angrily that you will punish them if they do not stop behaving badly; be angry with somebody who has behaved badly: The headmaster came in and read the Riot Act. He said he would keep us in after school if there was one more complaint about us.In 1715 the Riot Act was passed in Parliament. Groups of more than twelve people were not allowed to meet in public. If they did, an official came to read them the Riot Act, which ordered them to stop the meeting.
See also: act, read, riot

read the riot act

To warn or reprimand energetically or forcefully: The teacher read the riot act to the rowdy class.

read the riot act, to

To issue a severe reprimand. The term comes from a British law, the Riot Act of 1714, which required literally reading aloud a proclamation in order to disperse a crowd (defined as a gathering of twelve or more persons). The proclamation stated, “Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons being assembled immediately to disperse themselves and peaceably to depart to their habitations.” Whoever did not obey within an hour was guilty of a felony punishable by law. By the mid-nineteenth century reading the riot act was used figuratively for a vigorous scolding, as Dickens used it in Barnaby Rudge (1840): “The Riot Act was read.”

read the riot act

Criticize harshly. A 1725 British Act of Parliament provided that a magistrate could tell any gathering of a dozen or more people who were creating a civil disturbance to disperse by reading an official statement to that effect. Failure to heed the warning led to arrest (the law remained in effect until 1973). Used popularly, the phrase became the equivalent of “getting a good chewing out,” even if only one person was “read the riot act.”

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From read the Riot Act. See sense 2.

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Pronunciation[edit]

  • Audio (AU)

Verb[edit]

  1. (idiomatic) To scold or berate somebody; to reprimand.
    She really read him the riot act about his smoking habit.
  2. (Britain,Commonwealth of Nations,archaic,historical) To give a formal warning for a riotous assembly to disperse, usually through reading a section of the Riot Act.

Synonyms[edit]

  • See also Thesaurus:reprehend

Translations[edit]

  • Dutch: iemand de les lezen
  • Finnish: lukea madonluvut
  • German: jemandem die Leviten lesen(de)
  • Italian: dare una lavata di capo, rimproverare(it)
  • Russian: (ustróitʹ golovomojku)
  • Spanish: leer la cartilla(es), cantar las cuarenta, regañar(es)

See also[edit]

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