to give someone the business
5
8.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
dar un tirón de orejas
- After her mistake at work, her supervisor was quick to give her the business in front of everyone.
- going to give you the business
Examples
-
Carwin was giving him the business.
Blog text (2) -
Give them the business, baby.
-
- Yo, you giving me the business?
-
Yo, we gave them the business last night.
-
Hey, give her the business.
-
I'll show ya, ya can't give me the business.
-
He gave Davis the business, but he also made it very clear that he's not one to settle for losing.
Blog text (27) -
Before the meeting, I knew my manager would give me the business for missing the deadline.
-
When the team failed to meet their goals, the coach was ready to give them the business during practice.
Synonyms
139
4.2
Punish someone so they learn not to do it again
55
2.2
Speak angrily to someone who has done something wrong
44
8.1
To tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
37
8.1
To scold someone very strongly for something they did
37
5.9
To criticize someone strongly
36
7.2
Scold someone angrily and severely
33
7.6
To scold someone strongly for doing something wrong
33
6.1
To tell someone they did something wrong, usually by a person in charge
26
6.9
To tell someone firmly that you do not approve of their actions
18
6.3
To scold someone strongly for a mistake
13
4.2
To speak angrily to someone for doing something wrong
12
8.2
To criticize someone very strongly and angrily
11
8.1
To angrily tell someone off
7
8.9
To speak angrily to someone for a long time
4
7.9
Scold someone very strongly for a mistake
3
8.8
To scold someone strongly for something they did wrong
3
7.9
To tell someone strongly that they have done something wrong, often in front of others
3
6.3
To angrily tell someone they did something wrong
2
9.9
To scold someone angrily
1
8.1
To scold or punish someone angrily for something they did wrong
1
8.7
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
1
7.9
To scold someone strongly and warn them of punishment
1
8.6
To scold someone very strongly for a mistake
1
6.8
Tell someone angrily that they did something wrong
Tell someone angrily that you are upset with them
To scold someone strongly for doing something wrong
To criticize someone angrily using harsh words
To scold someone angrily for something they did
Scold someone very strongly, often in front of others
To angrily tell someone they did something wrong, often in front of others
To tell someone they behaved badly in a serious way
Antonyms
How Harsh
36
7.2
- Informal
5
8.3
- Informal
13
4.2
55
2.2
31
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
give + someone + the + business
The meaning 'to reprimand or scold someone severely' cannot be directly derived from the literal senses of 'give' and 'business'; the phrase is colloquial and idiomatic rather than compositional. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be unlikely to infer the scolding sense, and there is no obvious cross-linguistic compositional pattern that makes this predictable.
Etymology
Give someone the business may come from old American slang. One popular story says people used business to mean rough or serious treatment, so to give someone the business was to put them through hard treatment. That's why today it means 'to scold or give someone a hard time'.