get the goods on

English

Alternative forms

• have the goods on

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

get the goods on (third-person singular simple present gets the goods on, present participle getting the goods on, simple past got the goods on, past participle (UK) got the goods on or (US) gotten the goods on)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To acquire knowledge or develop evidence that reveals the truth about someone's character or behavior, especially criminal behavior.
   • 1914, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 19, in The Long Chance:

     "Bob, they've got the goods on you. There's a warrant out."

   • 1921, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 10, in Tangled Trails:

     "You've got the goods on me. I can't deny I'm the man the police are lookin' for."

   • 1922, B. M. Bower, chapter 14, in The Trail of the White Mule:

     "With marked money and marked bottles, we ought to be able to get the goods on that gang."

   • 2000 April 6, Alexander Walker, "Erin Brockovich" (film review), London Evening Standard (UK) (retrieved 22 Nov 2011):

     And the film shows how mother-care can be more convincing than a legal brief in getting the goods on the corporate villains.

   • 2002 Sept. 26, "California Culprits" (editorial), New York Times (retrieved 22 Nov 2011):

     [T]he state's flawed deregulation scheme practically invited unscrupulous behavior. Still, it's encouraging that Washington is finally getting the goods on the manipulators.

See also

• incriminate

Anagrams

• gone to the dogs