Learn English – What does this verb mean in this context
idioms
The horses laid into the collar.
What does this mean?
Best Answer
It basically means the horse started pulling on the collar strongly and intensely. Its closest definition is "attack", but idiomatically you can say you are "attacking a task" which means you are doing it with gusto, or "attacking some food" which means you are eating very quickly and enthusiastically. It's the same for lay into.
to attack, consume, or scold someone or something. Bob laid into the big plate of fried chicken. The bear laid into the hunter. My father really laid into me when I got home.
A "slam dunk" is a term from basketball; it is a particularly easy shot, one that is difficult to miss. Thus "no slam dunk" means "not obvious, not simple, not particularly easy".
A bit of "poetic license" is often necessary in order to make a poem have correct rhyme and meter. In this case, "in their turn" is simply a way of saying "when the right time comes"; as you say, that time may be immediate.
But there may also be delays; if you manage to avoid getting zapped by the vault door, you can take as long a break as you want while packing up the gold before you have to confront the dragons at the next security checkpoint. And if by some miracle you do escape from the vaults entirely, there's still likely to be a team of bank enforcers hunting you down eventually, so "your turn" (to be punished) will still come, and then you will "pay most dearly."
Best Answer
It basically means the horse started pulling on the collar strongly and intensely. Its closest definition is "attack", but idiomatically you can say you are "attacking a task" which means you are doing it with gusto, or "attacking some food" which means you are eating very quickly and enthusiastically. It's the same for lay into.
The Free Dictionary: