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

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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