Word.ws English Dictionary

have someone's hide

have someone's hide verb: to punish or subdue someone.

Verb

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

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To punish or subdue someone.
    • Why doesn't The St. Petersburg Times scrape together $30 million and purchase football's Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Then, when I tell John McKay how to coach, he'd listen or I'd have his hide.1981 June 18, Hubert Mizell, “Cubs, new owners: a suspect marriage”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 29 Mar 2009

Synonyms of have someone's hide

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of have someone's hide

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

Origin of have someone's hide

An earlier phase of the same metaphor as at tan someone's hide § Etymology. The cognitive effect discussed at ass § Usage notes is operative in these usages concerning a person's hide.

Questions about have someone's hide

What does have someone's hide mean?
Have someone's hide means to punish or subdue someone.
What part of speech is have someone's hide?
Have someone's hide is a verb.
What is the past tense of have someone's hide?
The past tense of have someone's hide is had someone's hide.

Words near have someone's hide in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have someone's hide (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-have someone's hide.ogg.

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