задавать острастку

• ЗАДАВАТЬ/ЗАДАТЬ (ДАВАТЬ/ДАТЬ) ОСТРАСТКУ кому obs, coll

[VP; subj: human; usu. pfv]

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⇒ to frighten s.o. severely through harsh reprimands, threats, punishment etc with the goal of preventing him from acting in a reprehensible, undesirable etc manner:

- X задал Y-y острастку{{}}≈ X put the fear of God into Y;

- X gave Y a good scare;

- X instilled fear into Y.

     ♦ [Хлестаков:] О! Я шутить не люблю. Я им [чиновникам] всем задал острастку. Меня сам государственный совет боится (Гоголь 4). [Kh.:] Oh! I'm not one to play games! I put the fear of God into every last one of them [the officials]! Even the cabinet is scared stiff of me (4f).