like a ton of bricks

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Idioms and Phrases

Very heavily, without subtlety. For example, If he doesn't like your work, he'll come down on you like a ton of bricks . This expression, often coupled with come down on (def. 1), replaced the earlier thousand of brick or hundred of brick . The allusion in all these is to the considerable weight of such a load. [Early 1900s]

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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