Give it him

Question

But after all, currying favor is James's explicit purpose for coming up to London in the first place. Somehow he has secured permission to spend the bulk of this year begging a commission in the King's Guard from those who would vastly prefer not to give it him. And to that official errand James has added another entirely his own: to worm his way into the hearts and affections and appointment books of as many full-scale London authors and notables as he can manage in the space of nine months.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/books/excerpt-brothers-boswell.html?pagewanted=2

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Hi,

I've found out that "give it him" means, "to punish him".

But this pattern seems to be quite extraordinary, ordinary one being "give it to him".

Are there any other kind of these, the pattern of [Verb + Direct Object + Indirect Object]?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

pructusgive it him

Variant of give it to him, chiefly British.

This form may have already dropped out of use in present-day British English. Maybe a speaker of BrE will post further on this topic.

(It's got nothing to do with punishment in this context, and in any case this idiom concerning punishment also exists in both forms: give it him and give it to him.)

CJ

Pructus · Answer

Thanks, Calif!!

I thought it means "to punish him" or "to do something bad to him".

What exactly should it mean?

And I've found other examples as below:

look it her, glare it him, did it him........ ect...

What should they mean?

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It was the one suject she hadn't wanted to bring out bi the open. *** knows, she tried to push it away a hundred times with him. " I think you do want it, " He wasn't looking -it her. " You've had a few sexual relationships since Bonnie died. Nothing serious.

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She was too startled to speak. The little man hurried over to the washstand, reached up on tiptoes to run some water, and splashed p109 some on his face. Then he turned around and looked it her. She readied herself for him to see her and race out of the room in embarrassment.

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He makes it onto solid ground just as the ice under him breaks off in a big, thin, clear plate. # CLOSER # Eric sits on some rocks. Corbett glares it him. CORBETT Most dangerous thing in the world: A regular Joe, in over his head. You trying to prove how tough you are for me, or for yourself?

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And I think that's a liability. O'REILLY: Don't you think immigration did it him? Don't you think it was the immigration? GINGRICH: Well, I think immigration was the last blow for - certainly for most Republicans, because there was enormous unhappiness with that bill.

CalifJim · Answer

pructusI thought it means "to punish him" or "to do something bad to him".

No!

This is just the ordinary meaning ofgive.

He wanted a commission, but they didn't want to give the commission to him. They didn't want to give it to him.

He wanted to be in the King's Guard, but they didn't want him.

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The first three are obviously misprints for looking at, looked at, and glared at.

Many verbs of looking take the preposition at: look at, glare at, stare at, gaze at.

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The fourth:

Don't you think immigration did it him?

is also a misprint. It seems to me that the correct form should be:

Don't you think immigration did him in?

to do someone in is an idiom meaning (in this political context) to deliver the final blow to someone's chances to win an election; to cause someone finally to lose all popularity with the voting public; to cause someone's downfall. (In other contexts it can mean "to kill".)

CJ

Pructus · Answer

Thanks so much, Calif!!

Google shows 817,000 results by "give it him", when restricted into English and US.

Also, American Corpus English shows some results.

I am quite confused....

"give it him" should all be considered some kind of misprint, or typos?

And this website: http://scripturetext.com/ezekiel/21-27.htm shows some results from the Bible.

Shouldn't it be some slangs or archaic usage?

CalifJim · Answer

pructus"give it him" should all be considered some kind of misprint, or typos?

And this website: http://scripturetext.com/ezekiel/21-27.htm shows some results from the Bible.

Shouldn't it be some slangs or archaic usage?

It's usually one of these:

1) misprint (or typo)

2) archaic
3) British

It's not slang. It means the same as give it to him.

CJ

Pructus · Answer

Thanks, Calif...

I see.... It's the same as "give it to him".

Give it him

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