"have someone by the balls" meaning in English

See have someone by the balls in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-have someone by the balls.ogg Forms: has someone by the balls [present, singular, third-person], having someone by the balls [participle, present], had someone by the balls [participle, past], had someone by the balls [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|have<has,,had> someone by the balls}} have someone by the balls (third-person singular simple present has someone by the balls, present participle having someone by the balls, simple past and past participle had someone by the balls)
  1. (slang, vulgar, idiomatic) To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone. Tags: idiomatic, slang, vulgar Synonyms: have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms Translations (to exercise total control over someone): jemanden am Wickel haben (German), jemanden am Arsch haben (German), tener a alguien por los huevos (Spanish), tener a alguien por los cojones (Spanish), coger por los huevos (Spanish), tener agarrado por los cojones (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "has someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "having someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "had someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "had someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "have<has,,had> someone by the balls"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Ani DiFranco, I'm No Heroine:",
          "text": "You think I wouldn't have him\nUnless I could have him by the balls\nYou think I just dish it out\nYou don't think I take it at all",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Mark A. Roeder, Someone is Watching, page 138:",
          "text": "I feared what was to come. I was knuckling under to my blackmailer. It was a sure sign of weakness. If he didn't already, he'd know he had me by the balls as soon as he saw me wearing the shirt.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "November 13 2012, Socialitelife.com, ‘Dexter’ Recap: ‘Chemistry’https://web.archive.org/web/20151229215607/http://www.socialitelife.com/dexter-recap-chemistry-11-2012",
          "text": "Angel Batista immediately makes the connection that Quinn has been banging Nadia, a stripper working for Isaac’s people. Quinn adamantly denies that he would steal evidence and then storms into the strip club to demand that Nadia be set free. Unfortunately, they have him by the balls because they could kill Nadia at any moment and destroy Quinn’s police career once and for all if they revealed his tampering with evidence."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone."
      ],
      "id": "en-have_someone_by_the_balls-en-verb-s8qoFvqr",
      "links": [
        [
          "total",
          "total"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "threaten",
          "threaten"
        ],
        [
          "extort",
          "extort"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar, idiomatic) To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "jemanden am Wickel haben"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "jemanden am Arsch haben"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "tener a alguien por los huevos"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "tener a alguien por los cojones"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "coger por los huevos"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
          "word": "tener agarrado por los cojones"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-have someone by the balls.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "have someone by the balls"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "has someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "having someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "had someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "had someone by the balls",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "have<has,,had> someone by the balls"
      },
      "expansion": "have someone by the balls (third-person singular simple present has someone by the balls, present participle having someone by the balls, simple past and past participle had someone by the balls)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "English vulgarities",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Ani DiFranco, I'm No Heroine:",
          "text": "You think I wouldn't have him\nUnless I could have him by the balls\nYou think I just dish it out\nYou don't think I take it at all",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Mark A. Roeder, Someone is Watching, page 138:",
          "text": "I feared what was to come. I was knuckling under to my blackmailer. It was a sure sign of weakness. If he didn't already, he'd know he had me by the balls as soon as he saw me wearing the shirt.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "November 13 2012, Socialitelife.com, ‘Dexter’ Recap: ‘Chemistry’https://web.archive.org/web/20151229215607/http://www.socialitelife.com/dexter-recap-chemistry-11-2012",
          "text": "Angel Batista immediately makes the connection that Quinn has been banging Nadia, a stripper working for Isaac’s people. Quinn adamantly denies that he would steal evidence and then storms into the strip club to demand that Nadia be set free. Unfortunately, they have him by the balls because they could kill Nadia at any moment and destroy Quinn’s police career once and for all if they revealed his tampering with evidence."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "total",
          "total"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "threaten",
          "threaten"
        ],
        [
          "extort",
          "extort"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar, idiomatic) To exercise total control over someone; to be in a position to threaten or extort someone."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-have someone by the balls.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-have_someone_by_the_balls.ogg"
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "jemanden am Wickel haben"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "jemanden am Arsch haben"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "tener a alguien por los huevos"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "tener a alguien por los cojones"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "coger por los huevos"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to exercise total control over someone",
      "word": "tener agarrado por los cojones"
    }
  ],
  "word": "have someone by the balls"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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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