rain fire and brimstone

present singular third person rains fire and brimstone · participle present raining fire and brimstone · participle past rained fire and brimstone · past rained fire and brimstone

1. idiomatictransitiveTo send horror or destruction.

   Cyrus Barron straightened to his full height and looked for all the world like some old revival preacher raining fire and brimstone on his congregation.

   2015, Silver James, chapter 17, in Cowgirls Don’t Cry (Harlequin Desire), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 178

   4 more examples

   That day I raised my hand and swore obedience and loyalty to God, country and the Marine Corps, not necessarily in that order, and promised to rain fire and brimstone upon all enemies happened to be only two weeks after the buildup of troops began in Vietnam with the landing of the Ninth Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Da Nang on 9 March 1965.

   2003, Ray Hildreth, Charles W. Sasser, chapter 1, in Hill 488, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 20–21

   "After punching him, and making a report, how do I go back and with a ridiculous question like that?" / "Unless you think I am lying you have to. You have no choice." / "What if I don't?" / "I will rain fire and brimstone on you."

   2012 March 26, William deGraftColeman, chapter 19, in The Gods Declare, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 206

   Even before the global financial crisis flared up, various critics and interested parties rained fire and brimstone upon globalization on several counts. Globalization hampered efforts to shield the environment and lift the living standards of workers. In developed countries cheap foreign imports seemingly turned domestic workers out of doors.

   2013, Larry Allen, “Overview”, in The Global Economic Crisis: A Chronology, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, pages 9–10

   Yet, if [Chris] Colabello is clean and this really was an accident, then he’d better fight the results with all his might. He’d better rain fire and brimstone down on supplement companies.

   2016 April 23, Dirk Hayhurst, “Colabello’s entire fairy tale now under suspicion”, in The Sports Network, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2016