away with someone
- idiom
- UK
:
vete
- When he started complaining, I just said, 'Away with you!'
Examples
-
She waved her hand dismissively, muttering, 'Away with him and his nonsense.'
-
I told him to take his problems and away with him.
-
We're gonna go away with him.
-
You have to know that he asked me to run away with him and he said that you would all just find your way.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To go away from a place, person, or group
∞
3.0
Leave a place quickly or suddenly
709
1.0
To leave a place or person and go somewhere else
632
3.5
Leave a person, place, or situation without taking part anymore
104
9.9
Leave or tell someone to leave in a rude way
14
6.8
Leave a place or start a journey
12
9.9
Tell someone to go away immediately in a rude way
12
8.4
To tell someone to go away right away in a rude or angry way
12
7.7
Leave a place quickly, often in a rude way
5
4.1
To make people or animals go away by waving your hand
4
8.9
Tell someone to go away and leave you alone
3
9.9
Tell someone to go away in a rude way
1
9.9
To tell someone rudely to go away and leave you alone
To tell someone to leave in a rude, angry way
Angrily tell someone to go away
A short spoken word telling someone to go away now
To leave a place quickly, often in a rude way
Antonyms
How Rude
- Offensive
543
2.1
- Offensive
- Offensive
1
9.9
- UK
- Informal
6
6.7
716
1.7
272
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core sense of dismissal is signalled by 'away', so a learner who knows 'away' will get a general idea of leaving, but the added 'with' + pronoun forms a fixed, formulaic imperative (e.g. 'Away with you!') that is not a straightforward compositional instruction and can be idiomatic or archaic. Because the particle 'with' does not transparently contribute the intended dismissive force and the pattern is not a regular, productive English composition, the meaning is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The phrase away with someone comes from old orders like 'away with him', when a person in power told guards to take someone out of the room. The picture of being physically sent away is why it now means 'go away' said strongly and without respect.