Word.ws English Dictionary

have someone's head

have someone's head verb: to punish someone severely, as by sacking (firing), imprisonment, or similarly harsh penalties.

Verb

have someone's head (third-person singular simple present has someone's head, present participle having someone's head, simple past and past participle had someone's head)

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To punish someone severely, as by sacking (firing), imprisonment, or similarly harsh penalties.
    • The boss will have his head for losing the biggest customer over a mistake.
  2. (literal) To kill somebody, especially with violence and especially by decapitation.
    • The tyrant would have their heads for their temerity.

Synonyms of have someone's head

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of have someone's head

third-person singular presenthas someone's head
present participlehaving someone's head
past participlehad someone's head
pasthad someone's head

Questions about have someone's head

What does have someone's head mean?
Have someone's head means to punish someone severely, as by sacking (firing), imprisonment, or similarly harsh penalties.
What part of speech is have someone's head?
Have someone's head is a verb.
What is the past tense of have someone's head?
The past tense of have someone's head is had someone's head.

Words near have someone's head in the dictionary

  1. have someone's back
  2. have someone's blood
  3. have someone's blood on one's head
  4. have someone's ear
  5. have someone's guts for garters
  6. have someone's head
  7. have someone's hide
  8. have someone's nose wide open
  9. have someone's number
  10. have someone's six
  11. have something going for one

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have someone's head (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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