Word.ws English Dictionary

gave someone what for

gave someone what for is the simple past of give someone what for.

Meaning of give someone what for

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, slang) To punish; to rebuke.
    • She gave him what for all right. But you could see she was ever so pleased and she went around telling everybody about it.2007, Wilbur Smith, The Sound of Thunder, page 135

Questions about gave someone what for

What is gave someone what for the simple past of?
Gave someone what for is the simple past of give someone what for.

Words near gave someone what for in the dictionary

  1. gave someone the slip
  2. gave someone the time
  3. gave someone their cards
  4. gave someone their flowers
  5. gave someone to understand
  6. gave someone what for
  7. gave someone what-for
  8. gave someone wood
  9. gave something a go
  10. gave something a miss
  11. gave something a shot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave someone what for (page history and authors); give someone what for (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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