having someone's number
having someone's number is the present participle of have someone's number.
Meaning of have someone's number
Verb
have someone's number (third-person singular simple present has someone's number, present participle having someone's number, simple past and past participle had someone's number)
- To understand a person's character, capabilities, or situation.
- "Whenever a person says to you that they are as innocent as can be in all concerning money, look well after your own money, for they are dead certain to collar it, if they can. Whenever a person proclaims to you ‘In worldly matters I’m a child,’ you consider that that person is only a crying off...1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 57, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see have, someone's, number.
Questions about having someone's number
- What is having someone's number the present participle of?
- Having someone's number is the present participle of have someone's number.
Words near having someone's number in the dictionary
- having someone's ear
- having someone's guts for garters
- having someone's head
- having someone's hide
- having someone's nose wide open
- having someone's number
- having someone's six
- having something going for one
- having something going with someone
- having something on good authority
- having something over someone
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: having someone's number (page history and authors); have someone's number (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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