fear up harsh
n.— «Among the techniques that don’t require prior approval in advance under the rules issued last fall are silence, repetition, “emotional love/hate,” and “fear up harsh,” in which an interrogator behaves in a heavy, overpowering manner, yelling and even hurling objects, in an effort to implant fear in a suspect.» —“Interrogation Rules Were Issued Before Iraq Abuses —- Some Techniques Needed Commander’s Permission; Questions of Interpretation” by Carla Anne Robbins, Greg Jaffe, David S. Cloud Wall Street Journal May 13, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...