settle someone's hash

verb

To physically or verbally subdue someone.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbsettle someone's hash (third-person singular simple present settles someone's hash, present participle settling someone's hash, simple past and past participle settled someone's hash)

present singular third person settles someone's hash · participle present settling someone's hash · participle past settled someone's hash · past settled someone's hash

  1. idiomaticTo physically or verbally subdue someone.

    2004 July 8–14, "Devious Rabbit Tricks Bush Into Signing Gun Ban", The Onion, available in Embedded in America, →ISBN, page 202, "Sez Pezziden' Bush, sezee, 'I'm gwine ter settle yo' hash, ole Rabbit....'"

    2 more examples

    Wait and see old Caleb Quirk get into the box. I'll settle his hash in half a minute.

    1851, S. G. Warren, Ten Thousand a Year, Jesper Harding, page 344

    “But wait till I light on you, no matter where it is, I’ll settle your hash for a bit, yer little swine!”

    1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 13”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
put a spoke in someone's wheel

Translations

Bulgarian запушвам устата на
  • запушвам устата на (zapušvam ustata na)To physically or verbally subdue someone.
Polish uciszać, uciszyć
  • uciszaćTo physically or verbally subdue someone.
  • uciszyćTo physically or verbally subdue someone.
  • pacyfikowaćTo physically or verbally subdue someone.
  • spacyfikowaćTo physically or verbally subdue someone.
Portuguese por alguém em seu devido lugar
  • por alguém em seu devido lugarTo physically or verbally subdue someone.
Cite this entry
APA

settle someone's hash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/settle%20someone's%20hash

MLA

“settle someone's hash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/settle%20someone's%20hash. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “settle someone's hash,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/settle%20someone's%20hash.

Source: settle someone's hash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.