have someone's hide
To punish or subdue someone.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“If you break that vase, your mother will have your hide.”
“The coach will have your hide for being late to practice.”
“The boss warned the team that he would have their hide if they missed the deadline again.”
“My landlord will have my hide if I keep making noise after midnight on a weekday.”
“The chef said he would have the waiter's hide for dropping the expensive tray of food.”
“The mechanic told his assistant that he would have his hide if he forgot to tighten the bolts on the car's wheels again.”
“The king threatened to have the hide of any soldier who dared to desert his post during the heat of the battle.”
The expression represents an earlier phase of the metaphor found in the phrase to tan someone's hide. Linguists note that the cognitive effect observed in the usage notes for the term ass is operative here, where the hide is treated as the singular representative of the entire individual. The idiom remains a relic of an era when the skinning of a person was considered a suitable, if somewhat terminal, administrative consequence.
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another nail in someone's coffin
An event that increases the likelihood of or causes further failure.
- 02
answer someone's prayers
To be or do exactly what someone has been wishing or asking for.
- 03
answer to someone's prayers
Exactly what someone has been wishing or asking for.
- 04
apple of someone's eye
The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.
- 05
bane of someone's existence
Someone or something that poses a significant problem to someone.
- 06
bash someone's face in
To beat someone violently.
- 07
bash someone's head
To beat up someone violently.
- 08
be someone's to lose
To be anticipated to be won by someone.
Last updated August 10, 2026