Word.ws English Dictionary

gave what for

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

Meaning of give what for

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To scold; to punish, especially verbally.
    • When she found out, she really gave him what for.

Questions about gave what for

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

Words near gave what for in the dictionary

  1. gave up the ghost
  2. gave vent to
  3. gave voice
  4. gave way
  5. gave weight
  6. gave what for
  7. gave with one hand and took away with the other
  8. gave zero fucks
  9. gavel
  10. gavel out
  11. gavel to order

Source and license

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