a Roland for an Oliver

plural Rolands for Olivers

1. idiomaticEqual measure; measure for measure; adequate response.

   I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from laughing. What he said had a hateful truth in it, and another defect of my character is that I enjoy the company of those, however depraved, who can give me a Roland for my Oliver.

   1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XL, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 201

   3 more examples

   Mr. Godwin has lately attempted an answer to the Essay (thus giving Mr. Malthus a Roland for his Oliver) but we think he has judged ill in endeavouring to invalidate the principle, instead of confining himself to point out the misapplication of it.

   1825, William Hazlitt, “Mr. Malthus”, in The Spirit of the Age […] , London: Printed for Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC

   It was rather a ticklish matter to go into politics, but he [Hart] might speak on them generally, knowing that if he overstepped the mark he would be brought up standing. His friend on the right had a respected relative in the Ministry, and if he trod on his corns, or did what he should not, he would, as he had often done before, give him a Roland for an Oliver.

   1870 May 21, “Complimentary Dinner to Captain [John] Hart, M.P., C.M.G.”, in The South Australian Register, volume XXXIV, number 7339, Adelaide, S.A., →OCLC, page 5, column 5

   It is held to be a good taunt, and somehow or other to clinch the question logically, when an old gentleman waggles his head and says: "Ah, so I thought when I was your age." It is not thought an answer at all, if the young man retorts: "My venerable sir, so I shall most probably think when I am yours." And yet the one is as good as the other: pass for pass, tit for tat, a Roland for an Oliver.

   1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Crabbed Age and Youth”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC, pages 91–92

   Synonyms: eye for an eye, tit for tat

1. idiomaticnot comparableSo as to respond to an action with an equivalent action; tit for tat.

   He responded to the insult a Roland for an Oliver, striking back just as hard.