serve someone right

English

Pronunciation
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Verb

serve someone right

  1. (idiomatic, Of an unpleasant event) To happen to someone who is thought to deserve it.
    • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin (Chapter XVIII)
      "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."
  2. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see serve,‎ right.
    If my memory serves me right, we had a similar discussion a few months ago.

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