have v.
1. to seduce, usu. a woman; to have sexual intercourse, both heterosexual and homosexual; thus had adj. (1)
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘The Man That Hath’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) III 7: It is my cheefest joy in liffe / to have her to my pleasure. | |
 | Huon of Budeux III 630: God forbede that I shuld entende any wayes to haue her and disceyue her. | |
| Epigrams upon Proverbs xii: All shall be well, Jacke shall have Gyll: / May, nay Gyll is wedded to Wyll. | |
| Richard III I ii: Was ever woman in this humour woo’d? Was ever woman in this humour won? I’ll have her — but I will not keep her long. | |
| Two Angry Women of Abington IV i: What a vile girl ’tis, that would hav’t so young. | |
| ‘He that Hath No Mistress’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 34: He that woos a mistris, / must serve before he have her. | |
| A Fair Quarrel V i: I’d never have her. | |
| Love In A Tub II iii: What say you, shall we have her? | |
| Epilogue Spoken by Heccate and Three Witches 35: Bank-side Maulkin thrice hath mew’d, no matter If puss of t’other house will scratch, have at her. | |
| Soldier’s Fortune II i: I’ll have three whores a day, to keep love out of my head. | |
| ‘On Good Canary’ in Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 179: Though an Abbesse he court / In his high shoes he’ll have her. | |
| Constant Couple V iii: You might have had me once: but now, madam, if you should chance fall to eating chalk, or gnawing the sheets, ’tis none of my fault. | |
| ‘Poem on the Taking of St. Mary’s’ Collection of Eng. Poetry II (1716) 6: I will be Mars, you must be Venus [...] I’m cock’d and prim’d and must have at you. | |
| Penkethman’s Jests 98: One asking a Girl, If she would him? Faith no, John, says she, But you may have me, if you will. | |
| View of London & Westminster (2nd part) 12: Mrs Hannah Hadit, a pretty young gentlewoman. | |
| Hist. of the Two Orphans III 157: He has had six girls in one night. | |
| Choice Spirits Museum 36: She trows that I’ll ha her – Ise no such a Foo, For Willy did for her a lang while ago. | |
| Honest Fellow 54: He had her o’er upon the shore, / And then, and then, oh then, sir / — [...] / He cover’d her again. | |
| ‘On The Borders Of Billingsgate Vaters’ Secret Songster 21: He’d not had a voman, d’ye see, / For a month, so quite frisky was he! [...] And to snooze vith her made it all right. | |
| Leics. Mercury 24 July 1/5-6: [of a rape] Stones told Bent to ‘hook it, for he would not have her again that night.’ [...] Stones repeated the offence [...] ‘ You — I’ve had you first and I’ve had you second.’ [...] The learned judge summed up [...] ‘There were the remarks of the man, such as “I’ve had you once, twice, and I’ll have you again”’. | |
| ‘Characters of Husbands’ in Pearl 6 Dec. 26: If a husband came home and found his wife being had by another man, what would he do? | |
| Venus in India I 36: What fine big balls you’ve got! My beautiful man! Oh! How I would like to empty them for you! Oh! you’ll have me now! Won’t you? | |
| The Simple Tale of Suzan Aked 57: She had to admit that she did love, being had by Master Charlie. | |
| More Forbidden Fruit 18: ‘She always knew I would have you’ [...] ‘You lovely mother,’ I said. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Let Tomorrow Come 59: [homosexual context] Have at him, Hammer. [Ibid.] 165: Where’s the guy didn’t have a woman for twelve years? | |
| (con. 1900s–10s) 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 87: The frizzyhaired girl he’d had on the clammy bed. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Redheap (1965) 152: ‘Million to one,’ said he, ‘you had a girl to-night’ . | |
| Night and the City 199: If he’s got the money I’ll even let him have me — once. | |
| (con. 1928) Mad in Pursuit 106: Smith had said: ‘Lucky thing for you you’re like you are, no one looking twice at you. She’d have had you as well if you’d been anything at all.’ So then Tyburn told Smith he had had her. | |
| Bang To Rights 83: Another of his pet subjects was his perverted experiences in the brothels, about the twelve year old girls he had in them. | |
| All Night Stand 49: I felt just like having that St. Helens chick Jeannie. | |
| Glass Canoe (1982) 73: He had pregnant women, engaged girls the night before their weddings [...] anything with a hole in the right place and brush round it. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 24: Most of the men in the gang had had her at one time or another. | |
| On the Stroll 56: The way she was giving up rhythm, he figured he could probably have her right there and then. | |
| Swimming-Pool Library (1998) 19: [homosexual use] I had to have him. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 55: After the blonde piece they decided they were going to have me. | |
| Before I Go to Sleep 307: ‘[H]ave you been having him over here? Or maybe you’ve been doing it in a car’. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 311: I needed to have that woman. I was getting groin hunger. |
2. (also have it) to have received punishment.
| Romeo and Juliet III i: They have made worms’ meat of me: I have it, And soundly too. |
3. (also have on) to deceive, to trick, to cheat; usu. in passive as to be had, to be tricked (see had adj. (2)).
| Pettyfogger Dramatized I i: I had him at the Purl rigg. | |
| New London Spy 26: If you do, ten to one but you are had, a cant word they make use of, instead of saying, as the truth is, we have cheated him. | |
| Mornings in Bow St. 161: [I]f he would walk into the parlour, her mama would come to him presently. Bishop was not to be had in this way. | |
| Cockney Adventures 9 Dec. 43: Never mind, I’ll have him presently. | |
| Cruel London I 183: ‘They have had me, bless you,’ said Brayford, ‘the men who have ‘limbed’ you.’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Aug. 13/4: He was fond of practical jokes, but being ’cute his acquaintances had rarely succeeded in ‘having’ him. | |
| Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 21 Mar. 3/3: ‘Whay, we’ve been had reight enough [...] Drat him’. | |
| ‘Visit of Condolence’ in Roderick (1972) How was I to know you wasn’t havin’ me? | |
| Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 139: They couldn’t ’ave me, not for a single farden—not a farden, try an’ fiddle as they would. | |
| Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 17: ‘Say,’ said Johnnie the Gent to the Night Hawk Cabby [...] ‘they had me last night, but they ain’t goin’ to get me again!’. | |
| [perf. Will Edwards] ‘Districts’ 🎵 He lived in Shaftesbury Avenue, / And if you dealt with him, it’s true / The odds were always twelve to two / On Mister Shaftesbury ‘Aven ue’. | |
| Grifter 81: ‘He’s spikey over me havin’ him yesterday’. | |
| bk review in Spectator 22 Nov. 540/1: He has all the suspicion of a provincial holiday-maker afraid of being ‘had’. | |
| With Hooves of Brass 113: Of course, they had only been having him on - he was a wake-up to that. | |
| Veeck — as in Wreck 285: In less than five minutes, I knew that I had been had. | |
| Reach 95: Ha. You almost had me there. |
4. to capture; to arrest.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 92: Had — taken up; in the Compter or jail. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 239: They had Caterpillar in days, and Chilly a month later. | |
| Tharunka (Sydney) 8 Nov. 28/2: ‘We’ll be in touch with you, now piss off or you’ve had it...’‘Yes sir...’‘And don’t answer me back or I’ll have you two...’. |
5. to place in a situation from which there is no escape.
| Bk of Sports 26: Perkins was satisfied that he had ‘got the Pet’. | |
| Oliver Twist (1966) 279: I was so struck all of a heap, that you might have fractured my skull with a tooth-pick [...] but we’re sure to have him. | |
| Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 35: Casting a glance at Captain Blunderbuss, which seemed to say, ‘I have him now!’. | |
| Paved with Gold 399: ‘We’ll soon have the ruffian,’ roared the lieutenant, with glee. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 13/1: Mike keeping his eye ‘peeled’ for such little affairs in the ‘game,’ he thought he had us sure. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 153: Boys, I have you both. | |
| ‘The Guile of Dad M’Ginnis’ in Bulletin 3 Dec. 32: ‘See,’ said Kangaroobie Riley, ‘you have had me, that is clear!’. | |
| Life In Sing Sing 263: I’ve been tailed all over the wilds by a mob of western bulls. They had me in Pa, but I ducked them neat. | |
| Greenmantle (1930) 251: I had not got away much too soon, for in another half-hour he would have had me. | |
| Autobiog. of a Thief 90: We’ll have you yet, and have you ‘good’! | |
| Capricornia (1939) 374: Rock it into him Darkey — you got him now! | |
| Lucky Palmer 8: ‘You got me,’ said Clarrie, shrugging his shoulders. ‘Let’s get it over.’. | |
| Parole Chief 43: I t’ought yez had me because of de goil. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 57: With his index finger [he] gently nudged his rook a single square right, opening a discovery check [...] ‘That’s got you,’ he said. | |
| Shaft 168: You got him pretty good [...] Either way. | |
| Spike Island (1981) 359: If you start playin’ away with a bird — and you’re dealing with a big-time villain — forget it. He’s got you bang to rights, and straight off he’ll bloody have yer! | |
| Rivethead (1992) 107: He was really convinced that he had me. He didn’t know shit. | |
| ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 I had the stupid little cunt now, right in my own damn hotel room. Look, I make no apologies, this city eats morons alive. Darwinism in its purest form. |
6. (UK Und.) to recognize.
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 72/1: I had noticed a sharp looking ‘bloke’ keeping us in view for some time, and when he noticed that I ‘had’ him, he made a ‘stall’ to ask me if that was the ferry boat to Dundee. |
7. to understand, to see through a deception.
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 156/2: Why, Yorky, do you think I didn’t ‘tumble’ to your ‘racket?’ Oh, yes, I had you from the very first, but I thought I’d let you slide. |
8. to harm, to beat, to punish.
| ‘The Drover’s Wife’ in Roderick (1972) 47: Stand back! I’ll have the beggar. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Dec. 40/2: No! I was never ’ad. I only toed the carpet once, and that come about in this way. | |
| (con. 1948–52) Virgin Soldiers 72: I’ll have you all! [...] Just see! Just see! | |
| ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 8: You tell Wendy about any shooters and I’ll have you, Harry, I promise. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 303: You fucking little this and you fucking little that. I’ll fucking have you. Fucking watch it, boy. | |
| Grits 10: Thir’s a woodlouse as well, or a baby armadillo as Mairead calls em [...] Mr Spider ul av im if ee doesunt watch out. | |
| Peepshow [ebook] ‘Come on,’ he yelled, ’I’ll have ya!’. |
9. to be killed, to be injured.
| Sporting Times 21 Apr. 1/5: You’ve got to have it. | |
| Bar-20 v: If that off buck wasn’t so green he’d ’a’ had me long ago. | |
| Rivers of Blood 194: ‘Take one more step,’ the officer leveled his gun at the assemblyman, ‘and you’ve had it!’. | |
| (con. 1967) Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 59: If you were the first to get it, you wouldn’t even know what was happening until after you’d been had. |
10. to rob.
| Hookey 43: Yesterday, I met a country josser, / And I had him for his watch and chain. | |
| (con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 136: We’re gonna have it [i.e. a factory]. |
11. (US und.) to ‘own’ corruptly, as in a gang’s area of operations.
| Thicker ’n Thieves 14: [T]he chief duties of Kynette and his squad seemed to be the harassment, arrest and suppression of any racketeers outside the ken of those who ‘had’ the town for gambling, slot machines and prostitutio. |
12. (orig. US black) to protect [abbr. have someone’s back under back n.1 ].
| ‘The Message’ 🎵 I spoke to your son, the other day, and told him Uncle Dre got him. |
13. to have something covered.
| Source Aug. 144: Dog, go in the back. We got this. | |
| Gone Girl 93: ‘Trust us, Nick, we got this. We want to find Amy as much as you do’. | |
| Not My First Rodeo 10: ‘I will provide. Stop worrying. You will be okay. Your family will be okay. I’ve got this’. |
In phrases
see also under relevant n. or adj.
see under beat off v.
see brown berry n.
of a man, to have sexual intercourse.
| in Jack of Jumps (2007) 111: I feel sure he was having her across. |
1. to berate, to attack verbally.
| Billy Liar (1962) 14: You just eat your breakfast, and don’t have so much off. |
2. to attack, to beat up.
| Outlaws (ms.) 19: Showing his teeth, eyeballs all pulled back and wild like he really wants to have the Kerries off. |
3. in fig. use, to defeat.
| Outlaws (ms.) 21: I had him off quite easily, really, and we was at it all summer. |
4. see have (it) off v.
see sense 3
(orig. US) to swindle, to cheat, to deceive.
| Cop This Lot 219: The bastards. They had me in. Thought they was fair dinkum. |
to remove, usu. in the process of a robbery.
| (con. 1920s) Burglar to the Nobility 63: We had the whole lot [i.e. of safe deposit boxes] away and into the lorry as neat as you like. |
to be ostentatiously dressed, also used adj.
| Sport (Adelaide) 18 Nov. 8/4: A certain pugilist noted for his swaggering gait and got-’em-all-on suit. | |
| Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary [ebook] ‘Ye gods and little fishes! Sapristi! Sacre bleu! [...] Just you wait till you see our Aunt Mary!’ ‘Has she got ’em all on?’ Clover asked. ‘Has she got ’em all on!’ said Burnett. ‘She has got 'em all on’. |
1. to hit, to kill, esp. with gunfire.
| Pilot (1824) III 241: ‘Let them have it!’ cried Griffith. | |
| Exploits and Adventures 197: The gun was charged again, a fellow stepped forth to touch her off, but before he could apply the match I let him have it, and he keeled over. | |
| Life in the Far West (1849) 10: I ups old Greaser and let one Injun ‘have it’. | |
| Moby Dick (1907) 380: I jumped into my first mate’s boat [...] and snatching the first harpoon, let this old great-grandfather have it. | |
| Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 71: Hoora, boys! let ’em have it. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 15/2: At the next moment he let me have it over the ‘conk’ which sent me staggering. | |
| Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 237: ‘Let him have it,’ shouted the mob. ‘Bravo!’. | |
| Nottingham Eve. Post 13 Sept. 4/1: Jennings was charged with beating his wife [...] ‘he up and let her have it’. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 34: I let him have it just between the eyes. | |
| Dover Exp. 17 Aug. 6/3: ‘What did the defendent do?’ Witness: ‘Banged her’ [...] ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Slipped into her [...] paid her well [...] let her have it.’ What is that? ’ ‘Hit her with his fist’. | |
| Vandover and the Brute (1914) 79: I let him have it right straight. | |
| Marvel XIV:364 Oct. 2: Fire in that direction! [...] Hurrah! Let ’em have it! | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Aug. 40/2: If he lingered till the morning / At the prehistoric pub, / And she looked at all like laying down the law, / Well, he didn’t say, ‘My darling, / They detained me at the club,’ / But he just let her have it on the jaw. | |
| Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xix: I’d a let her had it, all right, all right, the outside of the bottle right on the marcel. | |
| Human Touch 174: Pop outside with the guns [...] and let ’em have it. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 155: If a fellow gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it hot and heavy in the bridewell. | |
| You Can’t Win (2000) 170: I’ve packed a gun for thirty years, and very tme I fired it I was in the wrong except, maybe, then let that Gold Tooth have it. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 460: ‘Shall I let him have it, Joe?’ asked the other cop. ‘Don’t soil your mitts on him.’. | |
| There Ain’t No Justice 260: The guy had let him have it and no mistake. | |
| Target Area 52: He drew his gat, that faithful pal, and let Red Jim have it between the eyes. | |
| 20 May [synd. col.] ‘Ah let her have it, but fast’. | |
| Corruption City 61: Mike would let him have it with his own gun right in the gut. | |
| At Night All Cats Are Grey 254: I let him have it. The bullet goes home with a crunching kind of thump. | |
| Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 161: He got the shotgun up and was going to let Abrey have it. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 43: I just gave it to him [...] You know, just let him have it. Just emptied the whole…. | |
| Indep. Information 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 53: The allegation that Bentley urged his partner-in-crime to shoot a policeman by shouting ‘let him have it’. | |
| Layer Cake 72: She lets him have it fullblast, bosh, a double dose of the mace right in the poor doughnut’s eyes. |
2. to challenge, to pose a difficult question, to reprimand severely, to criticize.
| Col. Crockett’s Tour to North and Down East 23: I have fronted the savage red man of the forest; these are civilized. I’ll keep cool, and let them have it. | |
| Little Ragamuffin 11: You do let her have it awfully hot sometimes, Jim. | |
| More Ex-Tank Tales 102: When I got my voice back I let him have it. | |
| (con. 1900s) Elmer Gantry 161: He let her have it, brutally: ‘Oh, don’t be such a damned whiner!’. | |
| Neon Wilderness (1986) 31: The Captain let her have it: ‘Who put the sodium amytal in the Hill & Hill?’. | |
| Go, Man, Go! 111: Pa held his temper until he got outside. Then he let Paul have it. | |
| Listening to America 370: She’d wait until I [...] was ready for bed and she would let me have it. | |
| Fort Apache, The Bronx 223: He really let you have it, boss. | |
| Pugilist at Rest 100: They really let you have it up there. Throw it right in your face. Self-righteous do-gooders. | |
| (ref. to 1940s) Things My Mother Never Told Me 241: In a letter sent to Arthur the following day, she lets him have it. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | May God Forgive 71: ‘You let him have it with both barrels’. |
3. in fig. use, to do something energetically.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 5/1: Get ready the melodious tin whistle and the dulcet oboe, not forgetting the ravishing jews-harp, and let him have it slap as he straddles forward. | |
| Hoodlums (2021) 45: And the spellbinder let them have it both barrels. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US) anything inescapable, esp. something that is forced upon one by social convention; thus have-to wedding, a wedding that is arranged after the putative bride is found to be pregnant.
| Look Long Upon a Monkey 32: It’s a case of bleedun have-to. | |
| (con. mid-1960s) Glasgow Gang Observed 233: Huvtae, as in ‘huvtae cases’ – situation where partners ‘have to’ get married because the girl is pregnant. |
In phrases
see also under relevant n. or adj.
(W.I., Gren.) to have as much as one desires.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |
see separate entry.
see get going v.
drunk, e.g. you’ve had enough.
| Gent.’s Mag. 560/1: To express the condition of an Honest Fellow [...] under the Effects of good Fellowship, [...] It is also said that he has [...] 58 Had enough. | |
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 149/1: Had enough (Street, 19 cent.). Way of saying a man is drunk. | |
| ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 191: Ah, come on, Herb, you’ve had enough, haven’t you? You’ll feel something terrible in the morning. |
see separate entry.
see eyeball n.2
see separate entries.
1. (US gay) to be excited.
| Queens’ Vernacular 104: have oneself to be excited; worked up into a frenzy. |
2. (US black) to masturbate.
| Prison Sl. 49: Having Yourself Masturbation. |
see separate entries.