hit the books

• Audio (General Australian):

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hit the books (third-person singular simple present hits the books, present participle hitting the books, simple past and past participle hit the books)

1. (chiefly US and Australia, informal, figuratively) To study, especially with particular intensity.

   They go to the beach when they should be hitting the books and then they wonder why they get bad grades.

• crack a book

• “hit the books”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.