Idioms connected with Crime and Law: (Lesson 1)

1. Clean Hands: (Slang) Freedom from guilt or dishonesty; innocence of

wrongdoing or deceit. Have committed no crime, done no wrong or harm, either in
general or in a particular case.

1a- A plaintiff must come into court with clean hands.

1b- John grew up in a bad neighborhood, but he grew up with clean hands.

2. Clear one’s name: To prove someone is innocent of a crime or misdeed of which

he has been trying in vain to clear his name.

2a- The falsely accused rapist has been trying in vain to clear his name.
2b-

3. Come clean: (1) State or confess something fully and frankly with you,
with his constituents; about the facts; on this point.
(2) Or to confess; to tell all; tell whole story.

3a- (1) Let’s come clean with you, Lewis. That’s a very good reason but it isn’t the real
reason, and you both know that as well as I do.
3b- (2) The boy suspected of stealing the watch came clean after long questioning.

4. Come to terms: (1) To reach an agreement.

(2) Learn to manage or handle; reach a modus vivendi with
life, world, situation; (his) handicap, limitations.

4a- “Every great artist has come to terms with life – think of Beethoven – how tortured
he was in middle-age, and how serene at the end.”
4b- As Chris Kingsley says, “Man will have to come to terms with his environment.”

5. Day in court: A day or opportunity to appear in a legal proceeding to be

heard or to assert one’s rights. A chance to be heard; an impartial hearing; a chance
to explain what one has done.

5a- The letters from the faculty members to the dean gave Professor Smith his day in
court.
5b-
6. Do a stretch: To spend time in jail serving one’s sentence.

6a- Jake has disappeared from view for a while; he is doing a stretch for dope
smuggling.
6b-

7. Draw a conclusion: To make an inference.

7a- After he failed to keep an appointment with me for the third time, I drew the
conclusion that he was an unreliable person.
7b-

8. Get off cheap: To receive a lesser punishment than one deserves.

8a- Ted could have been sentenced to fifteen years in prison; he got off cheap by
receiving a reduced sentence of five years.
8b-

9. Give/read someone his rights: The act of advising arrested criminals that:
They have the right to remain silent and that everything they say can be held
against them in a court of law. (Sentenced used before arresting someone)
That they have the right to the presence of an attorney during questioning and that if
they can’t afford one and request it, an attorney will be appointed for them by the
state.

9a- The cops gave Smith his rights immediately after the arrest.
9b-

10. Exercise one’s right(s)/prerogative: Verb. Do something with the awareness

that one is entitled to do it, either legally or as part of a special privilege attached to
one’s rank, office, etc.

10a- Henry VIII could have exercised his prerogative and prevented Sir Thomas More’s
execution, but there was to be no Royal Pardon for the gentle scholar.
10b- I decided to take my books across London each day for a change of scenery by
exercising my rights as a member and working in the British Medical Association
building.
 Review Exercises I:

1.
a) b) c) d)
2.
a) b) c) d)
3.
a) b) c) d)
4.
a) b) c) d)
5.
a) b) c) d)
6. He was talking about the old colonial powers, England and France, and how they
couldn’t expect to win the confidence of Asiatics. That was where America came in
now with innocence of wrongdoing.
a) b) c) d) clean hands
7.
a) b) c) d)
8. Management and labour union reached an agreement about a new arrangement and
a strike was prevented.
a) came to terms b) c) d)
9.
a) b) c) d)
10. But if MPs do demand, as they should, a little trust from those of their party workers
who toil to put them in office at each election, then the last they can do is to confess a little
frankness about themselves.
a) b) come clean c) d)
Review Exercises II:

Fill in the blanks with idiomatic expressions:

s g t f
i t clean hands come clean
d u
1.
2.
3. Now come clean, Myra. What’s really eating you up? You’ve been talking around
and around it.
4.
5. There was much proof against Bill, but he swore he had clean hands.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
 Idioms connected with Crime and Law: (Lesson 2)

1. Go bail for: To advance the necessary money as security in order to release an

accused person until trial.

1a- The arrested driver had no trouble finding someone to go bail for him.
1b-

2. Make one out to be: To accuse someone of being something.

2a- Don’t make me out to be such a grouch; I am really quite happy-go-lucky.

2b-

3. Off the record: Unofficial(ly); not (so as) to be recorded, quoted used as
evidence etc. be; speak tell, inform, let somebody know.
Confidentially; not to be published or told; secret; confidential.
(2) Sometimes used with hyphens, before the noun.
3a- Off the record, the boss said, you will get a good raise for next year, but you’ll
have to wait for the official letter.
3b- The president told the reporters his remarks were strictly off the record.
3c- (2) The governor was angry when a newspaper printed his off-the-record
comments.

4. On the bench: Sitting in a law court as a judge.

4a- Judge Wyzanski is on the bench this morning.

4b-

5. Pot call the kettle black: The person who is criticizing someone else is as guilty
as the person he accuses; the charge is as true of the person who makes it as of the
one he makes it against.
(Saving) Somebody criticizes another for a fault which he has himself in an equal
degree.

5a- Bill said John was cheating at a game but John replied that the pot was calling the
kettle black.
5b- Marry me now Sonia. We have witnesses we could become one here and now.
Don’t be a dirty old man, you dirty old man.
Huh, the pot calls the kettle black.
6. Read one one’s rights: To give to an arrested person the legally required
statement regarding the rights of such a person.

6a- Read him his rights, Sergeant, the captain said, and book him for breaking and
entering.
6b-

7. Stand trial: To submit to a trial by court.

7a- The case has been postponed and he may not have to stand trial until next week.
7b-

8. Be on trial: Be being tried in a court of law accused, prisoner.

8a- Let me remind the accused that he is on trial for his life.
8b-

9. Bring to trial: Try in a court of law; suspect, accused; case.

9a- I sent the bomb which killed the postman. If brought to trial I should plead
insanity.
9b- Before we can bring our man to trial, we must catch him in the act.

10. Go to trial: Be tried in a court of law.

10a- If I am caught, I have my own plan. You can be sure that I shall never go to trial.
10b-
 Review Exercises I:

1.
a) b) c) d)
2.
a) b) c) d)
3. One of the committee members, whom I won’t name told John secretly the
appointment was as good as his.
a) off the record b) c) d)
4.
a) b) c) d)
5.
a) b) c) d)
6. When the commissioner accused the road builder of bribery, the contractor said the
person who was criticizing was as guilty as the person he accused.
a) b) c) d) pot was calling the kettle black.
7.
a) b) c) d)
8.
a) b) c) d)
9.
a) b) c) d)
10.
a) b) c) d)
Review Exercises II:

Fill in the blanks with idiomatic expressions:

s g t f
off the record t c c
d pot calls the kettle black
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. You could buy yourself a drink at any time of the day, whenever you felt like it, and
even fiddle one now and then off the record, if you were careful.
6.
7.
8. (Father talking to his daughter)
Father: Your has betrayed me.
Daughter: Listen to who’s talking. The pot calls the kettle black.
9.
10.
 Idioms connected with Crime and Law: (Lesson 3)

1. Take to court: Begin legal proceedings against somebody (leading to a court

action). Dealer, tradesman; case.

1a- If you have agreed specifications with the builder which he fails to carry out, you
can take him to court.
1b- You can take me to court if you want to. There’s nothing in writing.

2. Take a stand: To assert one’s point of view; declare one’s position.

Resist and not flee the enemy forces, or a physical attack; adopt and make known a
firm attitude of defence against, or opposition to somebody/something, adjective:
last, firm, determined against their pursuers; at that point; on this issue.

2a- It is time for American society to take a stand against crime.

2b- We’d like to have you on our platform. Bernard thought that the moment had come
to make a stand. I am afraid that’s quite unlikely, he said.

3. Take oath: To promise to tell the truth or to do some task honestly, calling on
God or some person or thing as a witness.

3a- Mary took her oath that she did steal the watch.
3b- John took oath that he would fill the office of president faithfully.

4. Take out (against): Issue a document calling upon somebody to appear in court;
police; injured party; a writ, summons, petition.

4a- The police have decided to take out a summons against the drivers of both cars
involved in the accident.
4b-

5. Take the stand: To assume one’s position in the witness box during a trial.

5a- The judge asked the defendant to take the stand.

5b-
6. Under arrest: In the condition of being restrained under legal authority. Held by
the police.

6a- The man believed to have robbed the bank was placed under arrest.
6b- The three boys were seen breaking into the school building and soon found
themselves under arrest.

7. Undercover/Under cover: Hidden; concealed.

Shielded, or concealed, by something; (Figurative) using the excuse, pretext or
explanation of something; move, manoeuvre, assemble, disappear; darkness, the
bushes; the confusion caused, the noise of the bands.

7a- I heard reports of big military installations under construction, stories of widespread
forest clearance under cover of forest fires.
7b- Under cover of the general excitement, he has slipped away unseen.
7c- He leaved forward to pat (the horse’s) neck and under cover of the movement
extracted the Mauser.

8. On parole: A release of a prisoner before the official end of his prison sentence
and will not be sent back to prison if his behaviour is good.

8a- If released, he will continue to be on parole for eight more years.

8b- Unfortunately Mr. Roger is on parole yet. He has two more years to fulfil.

9. Go to jail: Go to prison, be incarcerated, imprison, confine, detain, locked up,

sent down

9a- …a well-known criminal lawyer who had saved many a malefactor from going to
jail.
9b- Criminals are given the option of going to jail or facing public humiliation.
 Review Exercises I:

1.
a) b) c) d)
2.
a) b) c) d)
3. He kept his invention hidden until it was patented.
a) b) c) under cover d)
4.
a) b) c) d)
5.
a) b) c) d)
6.
a) b) c) d)
7. He shook his head. He had asserted his point of view, and he was not going to be
persuaded to change his mind.
a) b) taken his stand c) d)
Review Exercises II:

Fill in the blanks with idiomatic expressions:

s g t f
o t under cover
1.
2.
3. The prisoners escaped under cover of darkness.
4.
5.
6.
7.