give someone what for

From 19th century, as a threatening rebuke to an impertinent (by 19th century standards) question of "what for?".

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give someone what for (third-person singular simple present gives someone what for, present participle giving someone what for, simple past gave someone what for, past participle given someone what for)

1. (idiomatic, slang) To punish; to rebuke.
   • 2007, Wilbur Smith, The Sound of Thunder, page 135:

     She gave him what for all right. But you could see she was ever so pleased and she went around telling everybody about it.

   • 2002, Joss Whedon, "The Ballad of Jayne Cobb" in "Jaynestown", Firefly.

     He robbed from the rich, and he gave to the poor / Stood up to The Man and he gave him what for.

   • 1912, Edward Burke, Bachelor's Buttons: The Candid Confessions of a Shy Bachelor, page 133:

     ... 'e gived 'em up, an' repented somethin' horrid — there still bein' the buns to come — but Miss Soapy she gave 'im what- for-proper, she did!

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:give someone what for.

• give someone a piece of one's mind
• let someone have it