the long arm of the law Definition

law
noun

1. A customary rule recognized as allowing or prohibiting certain actions.

Thesaurus: rule, principle, precept, theorem, maxim, axiom.
2. A collection of such rules according to which people live or a country or state is governed.

Thesaurus: code, constitution, regulations.
3. The control which such rules exercise.

Example: law and order
4. A controlling force.

Example: Their word is law
5. A collection of laws as a social system or a subject for study.

Thesaurus: jurisprudence, legal science, equity, legal practice, judicature.
6. A group of laws relating to a particular activity.

Example: commercial law
7. Jurisprudence.

Form: laws
8. One of a group of rules which set out how certain games, sports, etc should be played.
9. The legal system as a recourse; litigation.

Example: go to law
10. A rule in science, philosophy, etc, based on practice or observation, which says that under certain conditions certain things will always happen.

Idiom: be a law unto oneself

To act as one wants and not according to laws or custom.

Idiom: have the law on someone (get the law on someone)

colloq
Usually said as a threat: to ensure that legal action is taken against them.

Idiom: lay down the law

See under lay¹.

Idiom: take the law into one's own hands

To get justice in one's own way, without involving the law or the police.

Idiom: the law

People who are knowledgeable about law, especially professionally.

colloq
The police or a member of the police.

Idiom: the long arm of the law

The law thought of in terms of its power and extent.
Example: They fled to Dublin but the long arm of the law soon caught up with them

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon lagu.