Meaning
To assert authority firmly and refuse to yield, especially in order to stop something from happening ('she put her foot down about the late nights'). In British and Commonwealth English a second sense means to drive faster by pressing the accelerator; the firmness sense is shared across all varieties. Neutral to informal; implies authority being exercised at last after a period of hesitation or tolerance. Regional use: General English (accelerate sense chiefly British and Commonwealth).
Origin
The phrase has two senses with separate histories. The firmness sense is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary from 1833 under 'to put one's foot down', defined as adopting 'a firm, unchangeable position or attitude, especially when faced with opposition'; the image is the literal planting of a foot to show one will not be moved, an analogy also given in idiom references. The motoring sense, pressing the accelerator pedal to speed up, arose with the automobile in the twentieth century and is chiefly British, Commonwealth, and Irish; Cambridge marks this sense as UK usage, defining it as increasing speed while driving. Context almost always disambiguates the two, and British writers sometimes exploit the pun deliberately.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- put her foot down about something
- put one's foot down
- put the foot down
Usage Examples
- When the twins asked for motorbikes, she finally put her foot down.
- The council has put its foot down on fireworks in the park after midnight.
- He put his foot down about working weekends and has not answered a Saturday email since.