To hit the books has nothing to do with being violent toward books. You cannot substitute words like clobbered, smacked, knocked out, or slapped for the verb hit! This makes the phrase an example of a noncompositional idiom.
Also: pound the books
Meaning of Idiom ‘Hit the Books’
1. To study or do schoolwork, often with particular concentration or focus;
2. To study hard; to read about something for the purpose of learning or studying.
Used as a verb, the idiom hit the books refers to studying for an extended period of time. One does not ‘hit the books’ for just a few minutes.
Sentence Examples
“I’ve got to hit the books when I get home. There’s a big test tomorrow.”
“Don’t you think you’d better hit the books? Your final exam is tomorrow.”
“That’s enough video games for tonight, Tim. It’s time you hit the books.”
“When the other kids were playing outside I was pounding the books, getting ready for college.”
Origin of Hit the Books
This American idiom has been used since the first half of the 1900s. It shares the word hit with many similar idioms such as hit the hay, hit the sack, hit the road, hit the bottle, hit the town, and others. In all these examples, hit is used to to express the idea that someone is taking going to do something in a serious or dedicated way. It may be related to the idea of hitting a target, as with a projective, or with the notion that when someone hits something, they are displaying a certain amount of intensity or seriousness.
