give someone hell

present singular third person gives someone hell · participle present giving someone hell · past gave someone hell · participle past given someone hell

1. idiomaticTo castigate someone; to dress them down.

   Near-synonym: raise hell

   5 more examples

   His boss really gave him hell when she found out that he'd been lying about filing the reports.

   I gave it off to her and then I stormed right over to her husband, my colleague, and gave him hell as well .

   2011, Amrita Sharma, What Did I Ever See in Him?, page 154

   He stopped calling me Space Barbie after Mike gave him hell last week.

   2013, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Elizabeth Hosang, Jack Bates, Moon Shot: Murder and Mayhem on the Edge of Space

   When the hospital called and told him Roberta was missing, Dr. Meducca gave them hell.

   2016, Evelyn Piper, The Nanny

   I gave him hell about his sloppy uniform ; but don't worry, I'll get him shaped up pretty damn quick .

   2019, Don Neal, Warhead

   Synonyms: raise hell

2. To torment; To make miserable.

   She's been giving me hell all week.

   1992, Jo Sinclair, Anna Teller, page 345

   3 more examples

   Yes, she desired to see Edward suffer. And, by God, she gave him hell . She gave him an unimaginable hell.

   1915, Madox Ford, The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion, page 274

   In the thirties, my cousin, Charley Gans, my brother Gershon and I "gave him hell" when he taught that garbage in our classes .

   2010, Manfred Gans, Life Gave Me a Chance, page 273

   These guys have been giving me hell all morning.

   2018, Jillian Frost, Players Break Rules

3. To put up a fight against; to battle strongly and effectively.

   A nickname of U.S. President Harry Truman was "Give-'em-Hell Harry" because he could really give them hell when he wanted to.

   3 more examples

   Heine—the Canadians call their enemy Heine and not Fritz—"was at least three times as strong as us, and we gave him hell. It was hand-to-hand fighting —rifles, bombs, bayonets, butt ends —any old way of killing a man—"and we killed a lot.

   1917, “The Desperate Fighting of the Canadians at Lens”, in The New York Times Current History, page 45

   I had warned my staff and the reporters that I was going out to win the election. "I'm going to fight hard," I told Senator Barkley. "I'm going to give them hell."

   1956 January 30, Harry S. Truman, “The Truman Memoirs: Fooling the '48 Forecasters”, in LIFE, volume 40, number 5, page 76

   Our gunners were temporarily knocked out by gas but soon recovered and gave them hell, which caught their first infantry rush, but they came on and advanced a mile and then their barrage slacked off a bit so as not to catch their own infantry.

   2014, John Stevens, Caroline Stevens, Unknown Warriors