send someone packing

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

send someone packing (third-person singular simple present sends someone packing, present participle sending someone packing, simple past and past participle sent someone packing)

  1. (idiomatic) To expel, eject, or dismiss someone; to send away, chase off, or force out.
    • c. 1695, Dr. Robert South, “To Archbishop of Dublin”, in Sermons, Vol. III:
      [T]he parliament, to their immortal honour, presently sent him packing.
    • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 32, in Shirley. A Tale. [], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., [], →OCLC:
      Two ladies called one day, pale and anxious, and begged earnestly, humbly, to be allowed to see Mr. Moore one instant: Mrs. Yorke hardened her heart, and sent them packing.
    • 1904, Gilbert Parker, chapter 2, in Michel and Angele:
      "Monsieur, you and yours are not for me. Seek elsewhere." . . .
      "You send me packing!" he blurted out, getting red in the face.
    • 2014 June 14, Anne Marie Garcia, “Cuba ballplayers chase dreams, big bucks, overseas”, in Businessweek, retrieved 8 July 2014:
      [L]eague authorities sent him packing after ruling he was registered with a fake Dominican passport under circumstances that remain murky.

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