English Reference

Idiom

write the book

Meaning

To be an authoritative expert on some specified topic.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“If you want to learn about gardening, she basically wrote the book.”

“When it comes to fixing vintage cars, my grandfather practically wrote the book on the subject.”

“Having spent decades studying the migration patterns of arctic birds, the professor has effectively written the book on the field.”

Examples

simple

“If you want to learn about gardening, she basically wrote the book.”

contextual

“When it comes to fixing vintage cars, my grandfather practically wrote the book on the subject.”

complex

“Having spent decades studying the migration patterns of arctic birds, the professor has effectively written the book on the field.”

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference