showing who's boss

Verb

show who's boss (third-person singular simple present shows who's boss, present participle showing who's boss, simple past showed who's boss, past participle shown who's boss)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To demonstrate oneself to be dominant; to show that one has the upper hand.
   • When children are young, spanking is a familiar device to show who's boss.1975, Dorothy Corkille Briggs, Your Child's Self-esteem: The Key to Life, →ISBN, page 234
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To demonstrate that one is dominant over or superior to someone; to establish that one has control of some device or intractable object.
   • "Bimeby I show yoh who's boss. I make yoh cry for Ramon be good to yoh!"1916, B. M. Bower, chapter 21, in The Heritage of the Sioux

   Synonyms:

   teach someone who's the boss