clampdown
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
clamp + down, from the phrasal verb.
Noun[edit]
clampdown (plural clampdowns)
- A sudden repressive or punitive restriction or control
- 1945, Earl Browder, Political Affairs
- The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is merely one step towards the imposition of martial law, toward a total clampdown on all forms of peaceful struggle for meaningful change.
- 1994, Vincent Cable, The World's New Fissures: Identities in Crisis
- There is already in the EU a clamour for barriers against competing products from Eastern Europe and Asia, and for a Europe-wide clampdown on 'aliens'.
- 1945, Earl Browder, Political Affairs