sharply

bring (one) up sharply

To cause one to abruptly stop doing something. The sudden blaring of the alarm brought me up sharply on my way down the hall. News of the reduction in funding brought our researchers up sharply.
See also: bring, sharply, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bring someone up sharply

 and bring someone up short
to surprise or shock someone; to make someone face something unpleasant, suddenly. The slap in the face brought me up sharply. The loud bang brought me up short.
See also: bring, sharply, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • bring (one) up sharply
  • bring up sharply
  • bring (one) up with a start
  • bring someone up short
  • bring (one) up short
  • bring/pull somebody up short
  • pull (one) up with a start
  • pull up short
  • pull (one) up short
  • stop short
References in periodicals archive
The number of students from multicultural families reached 99,000 last year, also sharply up from 20,000 in 2008, which accounted for 1.7 percent of the total students at elementary, middle and high schools in the country.
Cotton market opened after Eid holiday and on first day of trading session, the prices dropped sharply by Rs 300 to Rs 6100 per maund, said chairman Cotton Ginners Forum, Ahsanulhaq from Rahim Yar Khan.
According to the IMF sharply higher interest rates around the globe could combine with weaker growth in emerging markets to reduce global growth by up to two percentage points over the next five years.
And it is down from an annual rate of 455,000 in June, which was revised sharply lower from a previously reported rate of 497,000.
Shares also dropped sharply in major European markets.
HSBC, the biggest supplier of credit to other banks, also cut its exposures the most sharply with a 40% overall decline in interbank loans to the region.
Bank stocks Shinsei Bank, Sumitomo Trust & Banking, Mizuho Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Chuo Mitsui Trust, Shizuoka Bank and Mizuho Trust & Banking are trading sharply higher.
plummeted sharply in April-June 2009, according to the latest quarterly report on state revenue collections issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Summary: The import bill of basic foodstuffs and vehicles has decreased sharply during July 2009 compared with the same period last year.
MANUFACTURING pay settlements have fallen sharply to the historically low level of 1%, with nearly two-thirds of manufacturers freezing pay, according to the latest figures from EEF, the manufacturers' organisation.
OPTIMISM over a speedy end to the recession has increased sharply over the past month, according to a poll released on the eve of the Budget.
Amid sharply declining equity markets in 2008, initial public offering activity fell sharply in 2008, although the year saw the biggest ever offering by credit card network Visa.
Manufacturing output fell more sharply than services activity.
Firms are also cutting investment plans sharply as worries about future demand intensified.
Epstein of the School of Social Work, University of Nevada presents Psychotherapy as Religion: The Civil Divine in America, a studious yet sharply critical look at the flaws of America's modern system of psychotherapeutic treatment (drug therapy and psychopharmacology are not covered).