hit below the belt


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hit below the belt

To unfairly do or say something that hurts someone else, especially a personal attack; from boxing, where punches that land below an opponent’s belt are illegal.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
Translations
يَضْرُب بصورة غير عادلة أو قانونيَّه
udeřit pod pás
övön aluli ütést mér
kÿla/slá undir beltisstaî
udrieť pod pás
kurallara aykırı vurmak

hit

(hit) present participle ˈhitting: past tense, past participle hit verb
1. to (cause or allow to) come into hard contact with. The ball hit him on the head; He hit his head on/against a low branch; The car hit a lamp-post; He hit me on the head with a bottle; He was hit by a bullet; That boxer can certainly hit hard!
2. to make hard contact with (something), and force or cause it to move in some direction. The batsman hit the ball (over the wall).
3. to cause to suffer. The farmers were badly hit by the lack of rain; Her husband's death hit her hard.
4. to find; to succeed in reaching. His second arrow hit the bull's-eye; Take the path across the fields and you'll hit the road; She used to be a famous soprano but she cannot hit the high notes now.
noun
1. the act of hitting. That was a good hit.
2. a point scored by hitting a target etc. He scored five hits.
3. something which is popular or successful. The play/record is a hit; (also adjective) a hit song.
ˌhit-and-ˈrun adjective
1. (of a driver) causing injury to a person and driving away without stopping or reporting the accident.
2. (of an accident) caused by such a driver.
ˌhit-or-ˈmiss adjective
without any system or planning; careless. hit-or-miss methods.
hit back
to hit (someone by whom one has been hit). He hit me, so I hit him back.
hit below the belt
to hit in an unfair way.
hit it off
to become friendly. We hit it off as soon as we met; I hit it off with him.
hit on
to find (an answer etc). We've hit on the solution at last.
hit out (often with againstor at)
to attempt to hit. The injured man hit out blindly at his attackers.
make a hit with
to make oneself liked or approved of by. That young man has made a hit with your daughter.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in periodicals archive ?
Not hit below the belt, he would have retired as a good Army Chief and the Army as an institution would have been sparred the pangs and shame of some terrible blunders he committed at national level.
His reputation suffered a blow in April when he was unable to continue against Terence Crawford after he was hit below the belt by the pound-for-pound ace in the sixth round.
"I have never been hit below the belt and was in pain.
It's almost laughable that we have come to that ndash when we know we can't ask for a dignified election where everyone sticks to the issues and doesn't hit below the belt or worse, because we know that it's just not going to happen.
Its never OK to hit below the belt, but its important to have a healthy dialog.
He is unpredictable like a novice boxer, who could hit below the belt defying the rules of the game.