Word.ws English Dictionary

gives someone what for

gives someone what for is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 gives someone what for

What is gives someone what for the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gives someone what for is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give someone what for.

Words near gives someone what for in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives 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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