tell someone where to shove it
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Euphemistic allusion to the expression shove it up your ass.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb edit
tell someone where to shove it (third-person singular simple present tells someone where to shove it, present participle telling someone where to shove it, simple past and past participle told someone where to shove it)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tell, someone, where, shove, it.
- (idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic, vulgar) To express extreme anger, disgust, or hatred toward someone.
- 2012, Lou Wakefield, Hot to Trot, →ISBN:
- They're either telling you where to shove it, if you're winning, or telling you where they'd like to shove it given half the chance.
- 2014, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, →ISBN, page 4:
- But for two pins I'd hand in blank papers and tell school where to shove Pythagoras triangles and Lord of the Flies and their life cycles of worms.