give someone what for
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give someone what for
Where it comes from
From 19th century, as a threatening rebuke to an impertinent (by 19th century standards) question of "what for?".
Parent: "Go to your room."
Child: "What for?"
Parent (angrily): "Disobey me, and I'll give you 'what for'!"
verb gives someone what for · giving someone what for · gave someone what for · given someone what for
-
To punish; to rebuke.
She gave him what for all right. But you could see she was ever so pleased and she went around telling everybody about it.
Similar: give someone a piece of one's mind, let someone have it, give it to someone, give what for, admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, clobber, cannonade, slash
Talk about this word "give someone what for." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/give%20someone%20what%20for. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. give someone what for. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/give%20someone%20what%20for "give someone what for." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/give%20someone%20what%20for.Cite this
@misc{give_someone_what_for_2026,
title = {give someone what for},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/give%20someone%20what%20for},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
