dish out

dish out idiom
  1. Deal out, dispense, as in He dishes out advice to one and all. This expression alludes to serving food from a dish. ] Colloquial; first half of 1600s]
  2. dish it out. Dispense abuse or punishment, as in He can dish it out with the best of them, but he can't take it. [Slang; c. 1930]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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