Street voices
Courtney Sintoni
·
United States
"To grill someone or to be grilled by someone means basically to be interrogated or questioned a lot. So for instance, I was at the police station for hours and they were just grilling me non-stop."
What it means
To grill someone is to interrogate them intensely, usually with tough or unrelenting questions.
Usage examples
"I was at the police station for hours and they were just grilling me non-stop."
Where it comes from
Comes from the direct image: grilling something over a hot fire makes it sizzle and sweat. By the 1900s, cops were 'grilling' suspects under the heat of a harsh interrogation lamp, just like meat on a barbecue.