give someone what for
give someone what for verb: to punish; to rebuke.
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)
- 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
- He robbed from the rich, and he gave to the poor / Stood up to The Man and he gave him what for.2002, Joss Whedon, "The Ballad of Jayne Cobb" in "Jaynestown", Firefly.
give someone what for meaning in Bengali
give someone what for in Bengali
- শাস্তি দেওয়া, তিরস্কার করা
Synonyms of give someone what for
- give someone a piece of one's mind
- let someone have it
- give it to someone
- give what for
- admonish
- animadvert
- bash
- bawl out
- tilt
- cannonade
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of give someone what for
| third-person singular present | gives someone what for |
|---|---|
| present participle | giving someone what for |
| past | gave someone what for |
| past participle | given someone what for |
Origin of give someone what for
From 19th century, as a threatening rebuke to an impertinent (by 19th century standards) question of "what for?". Parent: "Go to your room." Child: "What for?" Parent (angrily): "Disobey me, and I'll give you 'what for'!"
Questions about give someone what for
- What does give someone what for mean?
- Give someone what for means to punish; to rebuke.
- What is give someone what for in Bengali?
- Give someone what for in Bengali is শাস্তি দেওয়া, তিরস্কার করা. See Give someone what for meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is give someone what for?
- Give someone what for is a verb.
- What is the past tense of give someone what for?
- The past tense of give someone what for is gave someone what for.
Words near give someone what for in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give someone what for (page history and authors); give someone what for (Bengali Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-give someone what for.ogg.
Cite this entry: “give someone what for.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_someone_what_for. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.