See give someone the business in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "gives someone the business",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "giving someone the business",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "gave someone the business",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "given someone the business",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "give<,,gave,given> someone the business"
},
"expansion": "give someone the business (third-person singular simple present gives someone the business, present participle giving someone the business, simple past gave someone the business, past participle given someone the business)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "68 32",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "81 19",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English light verb constructions",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "79 21",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "85 15",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1951, Mickey Spillane, One Lonely Night, Penguin, published 1980:",
"text": "“I hope you're right, Mike. I hope you aren't giving me the business.”\nI grinned at him. “The only one who can get shafted is me.”",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1965, Wilbur Smith, The Dark of the Sun, published 2008:",
"text": "\"They wouldn't waste the women. I'd guess they've got them up at the hotel, taking it in turn to give them the business. Four women only – they won't last till morning.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To treat someone harshly or in a wrongful manner, such as by abusing, deceiving, or manipulating."
],
"id": "en-give_someone_the_business-en-verb-psD3QeSS",
"links": [
[
"harsh",
"harsh"
],
[
"wrongful",
"wrongful"
],
[
"abusing",
"abuse"
],
[
"deceiving",
"deceive"
],
[
"manipulating",
"manipulate"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dated) To treat someone harshly or in a wrongful manner, such as by abusing, deceiving, or manipulating."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "95 5",
"sense": "treat harshly or wrongfully",
"word": "take advantage of"
}
],
"tags": [
"dated",
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1945 November 26, “Religion: Canterbury Red”, in Time:",
"text": "The Red Dean's utterances, as usual, got on some people's nerves. The irreverent New York Daily News gave him the business, in a full-column editorial, ending; \"Nobody curbs these whizbangs in the United States or England, where they are free to be as nutty as their capacities will permit.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1973, Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1977 Randlom House edition), p. 149",
"text": "Then the kids at school started giving me the business about being a fairy, called me the African Queen."
},
{
"ref": "1982, Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, →ISBN:",
"text": "They'd switch frequencies and there she'd be like Tokyo Rose, giving them the business. “What you doing here, Marines? You come to kill us? Why? We haven't done nothing to you.”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To harangue, criticize vigorously, berate, or ridicule someone."
],
"id": "en-give_someone_the_business-en-verb-289NRd00",
"links": [
[
"harangue",
"harangue"
],
[
"criticize",
"criticize"
],
[
"vigorous",
"vigorous"
],
[
"berate",
"berate"
],
[
"ridicule",
"ridicule"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dated) To harangue, criticize vigorously, berate, or ridicule someone."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "3 97",
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "diss"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 97",
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "dress down"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 97",
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "make fun of"
},
{
"_dis1": "3 97",
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "scold"
}
],
"tags": [
"dated",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-give someone the business.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-au-give_someone_the_business.ogg/En-au-give_someone_the_business.ogg.mp3",
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"word": "give someone the business"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English light verb constructions",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "gives someone the business",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "giving someone the business",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "gave someone the business",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "given someone the business",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "give<,,gave,given> someone the business"
},
"expansion": "give someone the business (third-person singular simple present gives someone the business, present participle giving someone the business, simple past gave someone the business, past participle given someone the business)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English dated terms",
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1951, Mickey Spillane, One Lonely Night, Penguin, published 1980:",
"text": "“I hope you're right, Mike. I hope you aren't giving me the business.”\nI grinned at him. “The only one who can get shafted is me.”",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1965, Wilbur Smith, The Dark of the Sun, published 2008:",
"text": "\"They wouldn't waste the women. I'd guess they've got them up at the hotel, taking it in turn to give them the business. Four women only – they won't last till morning.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To treat someone harshly or in a wrongful manner, such as by abusing, deceiving, or manipulating."
],
"links": [
[
"harsh",
"harsh"
],
[
"wrongful",
"wrongful"
],
[
"abusing",
"abuse"
],
[
"deceiving",
"deceive"
],
[
"manipulating",
"manipulate"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dated) To treat someone harshly or in a wrongful manner, such as by abusing, deceiving, or manipulating."
],
"tags": [
"dated",
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English dated terms",
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1945 November 26, “Religion: Canterbury Red”, in Time:",
"text": "The Red Dean's utterances, as usual, got on some people's nerves. The irreverent New York Daily News gave him the business, in a full-column editorial, ending; \"Nobody curbs these whizbangs in the United States or England, where they are free to be as nutty as their capacities will permit.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1973, Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1977 Randlom House edition), p. 149",
"text": "Then the kids at school started giving me the business about being a fairy, called me the African Queen."
},
{
"ref": "1982, Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, →ISBN:",
"text": "They'd switch frequencies and there she'd be like Tokyo Rose, giving them the business. “What you doing here, Marines? You come to kill us? Why? We haven't done nothing to you.”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To harangue, criticize vigorously, berate, or ridicule someone."
],
"links": [
[
"harangue",
"harangue"
],
[
"criticize",
"criticize"
],
[
"vigorous",
"vigorous"
],
[
"berate",
"berate"
],
[
"ridicule",
"ridicule"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dated) To harangue, criticize vigorously, berate, or ridicule someone."
],
"tags": [
"dated",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-give someone the business.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-au-give_someone_the_business.ogg/En-au-give_someone_the_business.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-give_someone_the_business.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "treat harshly or wrongfully",
"word": "take advantage of"
},
{
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "diss"
},
{
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "dress down"
},
{
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "make fun of"
},
{
"sense": "harangue, criticize, ridicule",
"word": "scold"
}
],
"word": "give someone the business"
}
Download raw JSONL data for give someone the business meaning in English (4.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (32c88e6 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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