{"id":10572,"date":"2022-11-16T22:16:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=10572"},"modified":"2022-11-16T22:16:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:38","slug":"hit-the-books-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/hit-the-books-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit the Books \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you about to study for an exam? You could tell your friends you must leave to \u201c<strong><em>hit the books<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \u201c<em>hit the books<\/em>\u201d means to <u>study for a test, exam, or profession.<\/u> If someone tells you to hit the books, they\u2019re <u>telling you to study hard<\/u>. It\u2019s commonly <u>used by parents, high-schoolers, and college students.<\/u><\/p>\n<p>It can also refer to being <u>engaged in a book to the point that you drown out the world around you,<\/u> focusing on the words and the story. <em>Hitting the books<\/em> can also refer to <u>using media like laptops and tablets to study.<\/u><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\"It's time to hit the books. The midterms are around the corner, and we need to start studying hard if we want to pass economics this semester.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"The workload for my studies is heavy this year. Being in college is so much different from high school. It's time to hit the books and prepare for class tomorrow.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Are you going to hit the books? Sitting around watching TV all day isn't going to get you a passing grade. You need to study, or you're not going to pass.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"I hit the books hard last night. I'm confident I know all the course material back to front. There's no way I'm failing this test.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"If you don't take the time to hit the books, you'll never get your degree. Don't be that guy that takes seven years to finish a three-year degree.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Put in the work and hit the books. If you study hard, you'll get your degree, and then you have your choice of jobs to start your career.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"It's going to be tough to pass this test. The professor is a monster; it's like he wants us all to fail. We must hit the books hard if we want to pass the test tomorrow.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"It's time to hit the books. I've procrastinated all day and wasted a lot of study time. If I want to pass tomorrow, I better get cracking and start cramming.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Can we head to the library and hot the books? It's almost dark, and we need to get some studying in before they close for the evening.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"I'm going to go over to Tim's place and hit the books with him for a few hours. We have a test on Friday, and we need to touch up our knowledge base.\"<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10573\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Hit-the-Books.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"126\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-10574\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Hit-the-Books2-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Hit-the-Books2-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Hit-the-Books2.jpg 499w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \u201chit the books\u201d has unknown orations. However, experts believe it comes out of college culture from the 1960s. Language professionals cannot pinpoint the expression's origin or who coined the term. However, it\u2019s thought it\u2019s an American phrase and possibly comes from the east or west coast.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"hit the books\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/94r3ACME8os?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Hit the Books<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Burn the midnight oil.<\/li>\n<li>Bone up.<\/li>\n<li>Bury oneself in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Hit the Books<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t bother studying.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hit the books.<\/li>\n<li>Hitting the books.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Hit the Books Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>To \u201chit the books\u201d has nothing to do with exerting physical actions on books. The \u201chitting\u201d in the expression refers to reading and the learning process. Using it to refer to exercising physical violence in books is incorrect.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Hit the Books<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the expression \u201chit the books\u201d to refer to studying. The phrase can apply to all variations of self-learning. For instance, you could tell someone to \u201chit the books\u201d to study for their SATs or college exams. Or you could use it to tell an employee to learn the new guidelines on the CRM system.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase suits social and professional use and people of all ages. Studying applies to all levels of education. Hitting the books means you need to put intensive work into your studies. It refers to studying hard to achieve a specific goal, whether it\u2019s passing your exams or becoming a better employee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you about to study for an exam? You could tell your friends you must leave to \u201chit the books.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \u201chit the books\u201d means to study for a test, exam, or profession. If someone tells you to hit the books, they\u2019re telling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10576,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10572\/revisions\/10576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}