Word.ws English Dictionary

gave someone their cards

gave someone their cards is the simple past of give someone their cards.

Meaning of give someone their cards

Verb

give someone their cards (third-person singular simple present gives someone their cards, present participle giving someone their cards, simple past gave someone their cards, past participle given someone their cards)

  1. (Ireland, UK, idiomatic, slang) To dismiss someone from employment; to fire or make redundant.
    • HEAD WAITER: It’s filthy! Gaston, find out who washed this up and give them their cards immediately!1969 October 19, J Graham Chapman, John Clees, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, 16:38 from the start, in Monty Python’s Flying Circus (How to Recognise Different Types of Tree...
    Synonyms:
    hand someone his cards

Questions about gave someone their cards

What is gave someone their cards the simple past of?
Gave someone their cards is the simple past of give someone their cards.

Words near gave someone their cards in the dictionary

  1. gave someone the old heave-ho
  2. gave someone the runaround
  3. gave someone the shits
  4. gave someone the slip
  5. gave someone the time
  6. gave someone their cards
  7. gave someone their flowers
  8. gave someone to understand
  9. gave someone what for
  10. gave someone what-for
  11. gave someone wood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave someone their cards (page history and authors); give someone their cards (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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