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)
- 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.
- 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
- have someone's guts for garters
- have someone's hide
- tan someone's hide
- amerce
- castigate
- chastise
- come down on
- correct
- fix someone's wagon
- give it to someone
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of have someone's head
| third-person singular present | has someone's head |
|---|---|
| present participle | having someone's head |
| past participle | had someone's head |
| past | had 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
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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “have someone's head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_someone%27s_head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
