haul over the coals
to strongly criticize someone
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
It's not the first time that the Royal Bank Of Scotland bosses have been HAULED OVER THE COALS.
(The Yorkshire Post)
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BBC executives were HAULED OVER THE COALS on News 24, Newsnight and the Today programme.
(The Guardian)
(The Yorkshire Post)
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BBC executives were HAULED OVER THE COALS on News 24, Newsnight and the Today programme.
(The Guardian)
Did you
know?
haul (someone) over the coals
idiom
- to give someone a severe scolding
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary)
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During the Inquisition, the Roman Catholic Church employed a variety of torture methods to extract confessions from people suspected of heresy. Apart from being hung from the ceiling by their hands or stretched over a wooden wheel, some enemies of the Church were dragged over hot coals.
This unpleasant part of the Church's past thus gave rise to the expression "haul someone over the coals" (haul is a synonym for drag). In the US, most people say "rake over the coals." To "drag over the coals" is also frequently heard.
Despite this gruesome history, coal used to be considered good luck. One of the New Year's traditions in England involved giving friends and family pieces of coal to ensure a warm home for the coming year.
The word "coal," meaning a mineral consisting of fossilized carbon, is from the mid 13th century. The substance was first mentioned (370 B.C.E.) by Greek philosopher Theophrastus in his treatise "On Stones" under the name "lithos anthrakos."
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SYNONYMS
admonish, berate, chastise, chide, criticise, upbraid, vilify
synonymous expressions:
take someone to task, call someone on the carpet, chew someone out, dress someone down, give someone shit, give someone a tongue-lashing
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He was hauled over the coals for missing the weekly staff meeting."
idiom
- to give someone a severe scolding
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary)
---
During the Inquisition, the Roman Catholic Church employed a variety of torture methods to extract confessions from people suspected of heresy. Apart from being hung from the ceiling by their hands or stretched over a wooden wheel, some enemies of the Church were dragged over hot coals.
This unpleasant part of the Church's past thus gave rise to the expression "haul someone over the coals" (haul is a synonym for drag). In the US, most people say "rake over the coals." To "drag over the coals" is also frequently heard.
Despite this gruesome history, coal used to be considered good luck. One of the New Year's traditions in England involved giving friends and family pieces of coal to ensure a warm home for the coming year.
The word "coal," meaning a mineral consisting of fossilized carbon, is from the mid 13th century. The substance was first mentioned (370 B.C.E.) by Greek philosopher Theophrastus in his treatise "On Stones" under the name "lithos anthrakos."
---
SYNONYMS
admonish, berate, chastise, chide, criticise, upbraid, vilify
synonymous expressions:
take someone to task, call someone on the carpet, chew someone out, dress someone down, give someone shit, give someone a tongue-lashing
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He was hauled over the coals for missing the weekly staff meeting."
