Idiom
give what for
Meaning
To scold; to punish, especially verbally.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“My mother gave me what for when I broke the vase.”
“The manager gave the team what for after they missed the important project deadline.”
“After discovering the damage to the garden, the neighbor gave the teenagers what for, leaving them in no doubt about the severity of their actions.”
Examples
simple
“My mother gave me what for when I broke the vase.”
contextual
“The manager gave the team what for after they missed the important project deadline.”
complex
“After discovering the damage to the garden, the neighbor gave the teenagers what for, leaving them in no doubt about the severity of their actions.”
Key words
Related idioms
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