Word.ws English Dictionary

given someone what-for

given someone what-for is the past participle 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) To admonish or berate; to speak angrily at somebody.
    • He really gave the kid what-for about the baseball through his window.

Questions about given someone what-for

What is given someone what-for the past participle of?
Given someone what-for is the past participle of give someone what-for.

Words near given someone what-for in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: given 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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