have someone's guts for garters
have someone's guts for garters verb: to reprimand severely.
Verb
have someone's guts for garters (third-person singular simple present has someone's guts for garters, present participle having someone's guts for garters, simple past and past participle had someone's guts for garters)
Synonyms of have someone's guts for garters
- have someone's head
- give someone what for
- nail someone to the wall
- amerce
- castigate
- chastise
- come down on
- correct
- fix someone's wagon
- have someone's hide
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of have someone's guts for garters
| third-person singular present | has someone's guts for garters |
|---|---|
| present participle | having someone's guts for garters |
| past participle | had someone's guts for garters |
| past | had someone's guts for garters |
Origin of have someone's guts for garters
By metaphor from the way that humans use animal intestines as catgut for various tensile applications; compare have someone's hide.
Questions about have someone's guts for garters
- What does have someone's guts for garters mean?
- Have someone's guts for garters means to reprimand severely.
- What part of speech is have someone's guts for garters?
- Have someone's guts for garters is a verb.
- What is the past tense of have someone's guts for garters?
- The past tense of have someone's guts for garters is had someone's guts for garters.
Words near have someone's guts for garters in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: have someone's guts for garters (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-have someone's guts for garters.ogg.
Cite this entry: “have someone's guts for garters.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_someone%27s_guts_for_garters. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.