serve someone right
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
serve someone right (third-person singular simple present serves someone right, present participle serving someone right, simple past and past participle served someone right)
- (idiomatic, of an unpleasant event) To happen to someone who is thought to deserve it.
- 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Chapter XVIII”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:
- "And they counts my money and tickets, when I gets home, to see if I's got the change; and if I han't they half kills me."
"And serves you right," said Jane, the pert chambermaid, "if you will take their money to get drunk on."
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see serve, right.
- If my memory serves me right, we had a similar discussion a few months ago.
Translations
happen to someone who deserves it
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serves you right!
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See also
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