send someone packing

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

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. […], volume (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.

Synonyms

• hand someone his hat
• send about one's business

Coordinate terms

• send someone to the showers

Translations

expel, eject, or dismiss someone

• Finnish: lähettää matkoihinsa
• French: envoyer promener (fr), envoyer balader (fr), envoyer paître (fr), envoyer sur les roses (fr)
• Italian: espellere (it)
• Japanese: 追い出す (ja) (oidasu), 解雇する (kaiko suru), 首にする (kubi ni suru), 追い払う (ja) (oiharau)
• Russian: выпрова́живать (ru) impf (vyprováživatʹ), вы́проводить (ru) pf (výprovoditʹ), гнать в три ше́и (ru) impf (gnatʹ v tri šéi) (forcefully)
• Spanish: mandar a paseo, poner de patitas en la calle (es)