Fear of God?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Fear of God?

“Fear of God”, therefore, is a mighty fear. Originally the “fear of God” refers to the great respect, reverence and awe the religious person has for the deity but nowadays this phrase is used loosely, widely and, amongst non-religious circles, it merely means, yeah, a mighty fear.

Hence, when a father or teacher or some other person is described as having “put the fear of God into” a child by words or deeds, they merely said or did something to frighten him.

To terrify him, if you will.

To scare him severely.

And if you are still unconvinced, check these media examples of “putting the fear of God into someone” (Examples 1-3), sometimes varied to “fear of the Lord” (Example 4), sometimes simplified to “the fear” (Example 4):

1. A teacher convicted of assault after she attempted to “put the fear of God” into a nine-year-old pupil was yesterday sentenced to 140 hours of community service and ordered to pay the boy £100 in compensation.

Catherine Brandley, 52, a supply teacher with 20 years’ experience, was convicted of assault by magistrates in Crewe, Cheshire, last month but sentence was postponed...

Mrs Brandley, of Congleton, Cheshire, was arrested after she prodded the boy in the chest and pushed him against a wall where he banged his head. The incident happened last September, five days after Mrs Brandley had started a new supply post at a school in Cheshire.