Word.ws English Dictionary

given someone their cards

given someone their cards is the past participle 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 given someone their cards

What is given someone their cards the past participle of?
Given someone their cards is the past participle of give someone their cards.

Words near given someone their cards in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: given 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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