Word.ws English Dictionary

have someone by the balls

have someone by the balls verb: to exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone.

Verb

have someone by the balls (third-person singular simple present has someone by the balls, present participle having someone by the balls, simple past and past participle had someone by the balls)

  1. (idiomatic, slang, vulgar) To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone.
    • You think I wouldn't have him
      Unless I could have him by the balls
      You think I just dish it out
      You don't think I take it at all1992, Ani DiFranco, I'm No Heroine
    • I feared what was to come. I was knuckling under to my blackmailer. It was a sure sign of weakness. If he didn't already, he'd know he had me by the balls as soon as he saw me wearing the shirt.2004, Mark A. Roeder, Someone is Watching, page 138
    Synonyms:
    have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms

Synonyms of have someone by the balls

  • have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms

Forms of have someone by the balls

third-person singular presenthas someone by the balls
present participlehaving someone by the balls
past participlehad someone by the balls
pasthad someone by the balls

Questions about have someone by the balls

What does have someone by the balls mean?
Have someone by the balls means to exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone.
What part of speech is have someone by the balls?
Have someone by the balls is a verb.
What is the past tense of have someone by the balls?
The past tense of have someone by the balls is had someone by the balls.

Words near have someone by the balls in the dictionary

  1. have seen this movie
  2. have several seats
  3. have sex
  4. have sexual relations
  5. have shit on
  6. have someone by the balls
  7. have someone by the short and curlies
  8. have someone by the short hairs
  9. have someone going
  10. have someone on toast
  11. have someone there

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have someone by the balls (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 by the balls.ogg.

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