From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbring somebody to bookbring somebody to bookSCLto punish someone for breaking laws or rules, especially when you have been trying to punish them for a long time War criminals must be brought to book. → book
Examples from the Corpus
bring somebody to book• Nor has Mr Wahid's government made much progress in bringing the army to book for human-rights offences.• Angelina was determined to bring Sir Thomas to book as soon as she could.• The House can rest assured that the Government will take every action possible to bring villains to book. 