robin bale's definitions

crackdown

punitive focus of legal apparatus on anything the speaker/writer doesn't like: unpleasantly authoritarian action, frequently with an overt populist message.
crackdown

"the home office guarantees a crackdown on illegal immigrants." or
i promise to crackdown on the drunken yob culture in this towm" vows council chair.

by robin bale June 28, 2004