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verb · irregular · transitive · rare

give what for

give what for · gives what for · gave what for · given what for · giving what for

To scold; to punish, especially verballyTo scold; to punish, especially verbally.

Meaning

1 senses

(idiomatic)To scold; to punish, especially verbally.
When she found out, she really gave him what for.

Forms

gives what for, giving what for, gave what for, given what for

irregular · Lesson

Base form	give what for · to give what for
3rd person singular	gives what for
Present participle	giving what for
Past simple	gave what for
Past participle	given what for

Tenses

give what for · gave what for · will give what for · have given what for

Point at a form to see it in a sentence.Tap a form to see it in a sentence.

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, they	give what for
he, she, it	gives what for

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, they	have given what for
he, she, it	has given what for

Future simple (will)Lesson

all persons

will give what for

Past simpleLesson

all persons

gave what for

Synonyms

21 synonyms

penalizeB2 correctB2 punishB1 teach someone a lesson amerce castigate chasten chastise come down on fix someone's wagon have someone's guts for garters have someone's head have someone's hide give it to someone

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
A2Phrasal verbs: introduction — Because it is a phrasal verb

See also

neighbours in the dictionary

giveA1 giveawayB2 givenA2

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

give what for — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto