Usually means: Scold or punish someone severely.
Definitions Related words Mentions
We found 4 dictionaries that define the word give someone what for:

General (3 matching dictionaries)
  1. give someone what for: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  2. give someone what-for, give someone what for: Wiktionary

Slang (1 matching dictionary)
  1. give someone what for: English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom

Definitions from Wiktionary (give someone what for)

verb:  (idiomatic, slang) To punish; to rebuke.

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