take one's lumps

present singular third person taking one's lumps · participle present took one's lumps · participle past taken one's lumps · past taken one's lumps

1. slangTo receive physical abuse and to survive.

   When frustrated tacklers finally do catch up with him, Arnett knows how to take his lumps. "If I hit the ground tensely, rigidly, and two tons of angry linemen landed on top of me, they'd break every bone in my body."

   1960 December 5, “Artful Dodgers”, in Time

   Synonyms: tough it out

2. figurativelyslangTo endure through criticism or other adversity.

   1 more example

   1987, David Fellman, "A Renowned Civil Libertarian," (review of Zechariah Chafee, Jr.: Defender of Liberty and Law by Donald L. Smith), The Review of Politics, vol. 49, no. 3, p. 444, As is the case with so many outspoken civil libertarians, Chafee took his lumps. He was strongly criticized by several Harvard Law School graduates.