have someone on toast

verb

To have somebody in one's power, or in a compromising or helpless position.

Similar
have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms
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Meanings

verbhave someone on toast (third-person singular simple present has someone on toast, present participle having someone on toast, simple past and past participle had someone on toast)

present singular third person has someone on toast · participle present having someone on toast · participle past had someone on toast · past had someone on toast

  1. colloquialidiomaticTo have somebody in one's power, or in a compromising or helpless position.

    Every crime commentator on cable news will have him on toast.

    2011, Michael Bowen, Service Dress Blues: A Rep & Melissa Pennyworth Mystery, page 102
    1 more example

    If he'd waited ten seconds until I was on the lighted porch, he'd have had me on toast.

    2013, Gavin Lyall, The Wrong Side of the Sky

    Synonyms: have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo have somebody in one's power, or in a compromising or helpless position.

Similar
have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms
Also see
have someone by the short hairs
Cite this entry
APA

have someone on toast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/have%20someone%20on%20toast

MLA

“have someone on toast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/have%20someone%20on%20toast. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “have someone on toast,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/have%20someone%20on%20toast.

Source: have someone on toast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.