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lower the boom 
: 1. To deliver a knockout punch. Prize fight use. -> 
: 2. To chatise or punish; to attack with criticism; to treat sternly; to demand obedience. ... 
: 3. To prevent another from succeeding; to act in such a manner as to harm another's chances od success. 
: From _[Dictionary] of American Slang_ (1960) by H. Wentworth & S.B. Flexner. 
: ----------
: lower the the boom on ... This [expression] refers to the boom of a sailboat -- a long spar that extends from the mast to hold the foot of the sail. In a changing wind, the boom can swing wildly, leaving one at risk of being struck
: As a sailor, the story ran, he had knocked men overboard with a single punch, when he "lowered the boom" on them. (Dempsey & Stearns, _Round by Round_, 1940)

LOWER THE BOOM - "to reprimand harshly, to stop someone from doing something. A boom is a long spar or pole used to extend the bottom of certain sails; or, it can be a spar that extends upward at an angle from the foot of a mast from which there are suspended objects to be lifted. Derrick, the famous hangman during the reign of [Queen Elizabeth] I, devised the prototype for the ship's boom - a hoist that still bears the inventor's name. Ashore, lowering the boom on someone means to call that person harshly to account. This can be done severely enough to leave one's ears ringing." From "When a [Loose Cannon] Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring [Words] in Everyday Speech" by Olivia A. Isil ([International] Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, McGraw-Hill, 1996)

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