wrist-slap

wrist-slap (third-person singular simple present wrist-slaps, present participle wrist-slapping, simple past and past participle wrist-slapped)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To reprimand mildly.

   You know the mother will probably only wrist-slap her "little angel" with a tsk-tsk. No wonder the kid is a little terror.

wrist-slap (plural wrist-slaps)

1. (countable) A mild reprimand, especially one that many observers might consider too lenient.

   Some crimes clearly warrant more than a mere wrist-slap — physically dangerous people must be removed from circulation.