Word.ws English Dictionary

gives what for

gives what for is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give what for.

Meaning of give what for

Verb

give what for (third-person singular simple present gives what for, present participle giving what for, simple past gave what for, past participle given what for)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To scold; to punish, especially verbally.
    • When she found out, she really gave him what for.

Questions about gives what for

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

Words near gives what for in the dictionary

  1. gives up the ghost
  2. gives vent to
  3. gives voice
  4. gives way
  5. gives weight
  6. gives what for
  7. gives with one hand and takes away with the other
  8. gives zero fucks
  9. GiveSendGo
  10. GiveSendGos
  11. givest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives what for (page history and authors); give 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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