rod

kiss the rod: seekiss.

make a rod for your own back do something likely to cause difficulties for yourself later.

a rod in pickle a punishment in store.

☞ In pickle means 'preserved ready for future use'. This form, which dates from the mid 17th century, has superseded an earlier mid-16th-century variant a rod in piss.

rule someone or something with a rod of iron control or govern someone or something very strictly or harshly.

☞ This expression comes from Psalm 2:9: 'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel'.

spare the rod and spoil the child if children are not physically punished when they do wrong their personal development will suffer. proverb