Word.ws English Dictionary

send someone packing

send someone packing verb: to expel, eject, or dismiss someone; to send away, chase off, or force out; (from a job or employment position) to fire.

Verb

send someone packing (third-person singular simple present sends someone packing, present participle sending someone packing, simple past and past participle sent someone packing)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To expel, eject, or dismiss someone; to send away, chase off, or force out; (from a job or employment position) to fire.
    • [T]he parliament, to their immortal honour, presently sent him packing.c. 1695, Dr. Robert South, “To Archbishop of Dublin”, in Sermons, Vol. III
    • Two ladies called one day, pale and anxious, and begged earnestly, humbly, to be allowed to see Mr. Moore one instant: Mrs. Yorke hardened her heart, and sent them packing,—not without opprobrium.1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “The Schoolboy and the Wood-Nymph”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 203
    Synonyms:
    hand someone his hat, send about one's business

Synonyms of send someone packing

Forms of send someone packing

third-person singular presentsends someone packing
present participlesending someone packing
past participlesent someone packing
pastsent someone packing

Questions about send someone packing

What does send someone packing mean?
Send someone packing means to expel, eject, or dismiss someone; to send away, chase off, or force out; (from a job or employment position) to fire.
What part of speech is send someone packing?
Send someone packing is a verb.
What is the past tense of send someone packing?
The past tense of send someone packing is sent someone packing.

Words near send someone packing in the dictionary

  1. send one's apologies
  2. send out
  3. send out for
  4. send outs
  5. send shivers down someone's spine
  6. send someone packing
  7. send someone to the showers
  8. send the flood
  9. send to Coventry
  10. send to dorse
  11. send to the glue factory

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: send someone packing (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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