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Glite Dictionary
to settle someone's hash

to settle someone's hash

9.3
To punish or defeat someone to stop their harmful actions
  • idiom
  • Slang
: dar una lección
  • The teacher warned that she would settle the students' hash if they continued to misbehave.

Examples

Synonyms

to vanquish
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Formal
109 7.2

Beat someone or something completely in a conflict

can also mean punishment or stopping actions, not only competition defeat
to kick someone's ass
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Offensive
45 9.0

To beat or punish someone very badly

is broader, including nonphysical punishment or ending someone's actions
to settle
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Offensive
36 8.6

To take revenge on someone who harmed you

focuses more on decisive dealing broadly, not only revenge
to fix
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Informal
29 8.2

To get revenge on someone for something they did

is more about decisive ending or punishment, not only revenge motive
to settle a score
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Offensive
2 6.2

To get revenge for something someone did to you

is similar but stresses decisive dealing rather than only settling past wrongs
to clean someone's clock
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Informal
9.3

Beat someone badly in a game or fight

is wider, also covering punitive acts beyond contest victories
to pay off old scores
vsto settle someone's hash
  • Informal
8.2

To get revenge or settle a past wrong

is more immediate and decisive, often ending the person's actions quickly

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to let it be
33 4.1

Accept a situation without trying to change it

How Decisive

to ruin
∞ 2.0
to settle someone's hash
  • Slang
9.3
to punish
821 1.0
to deal
∞ 1.6
to confront
310 4.1
to warn
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

settle someone's hash infinitive
settled someone's hash past
settled someone's hash past participle
settling someone's hash present participle
settles someone's hash third person singular

Morphology

settle + someone's + hash

The overall meaning 'to deal with someone decisively or punish/defeat them' is not directly derivable from the literal constituents: a B1 learner knowing 'settle' (resolve/retaliate) and 'someone's' plus an unclear 'hash' would not predict this idiomatic sense. 'Hash' here is metaphorical/opaque and the construction is an English idiom whose sense cannot be inferred from standard compositional rules or from cross-linguistic parallels.

Etymology

Settle someone's hash may come from the food 'hash', a dish of chopped meat and vegetables. The image is that a person is 'settled', finished and turned into a messy hash, so the phrase came to mean 'to deal with someone for good' or 'to punish them'.