send packing, to
send someone packing
Fig. to send someone away; to dismiss someone, possibly rudely. I couldn't stand him anymore, so I sent him packing. The maid proved to be so incompetent that I had to send her packing.
See also: packing, send
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
send packing
To dismiss (someone) abruptly.
See also: packing, send
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
send packing, to
To dismiss summarily. The term has been around since the sixteenth century. Robert Browning used it in “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” (1842): “Sure as fate, we’ll send you packing.”
See also: send
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- accompany (one) on a/(one's) journey
- accompany on a journey
- a stranger to (someone or something)
- be out of (one's) league
- be out of somebody's league
- be in bad with (someone)
- (one) puts (one's) pants on one leg at a time
- bargain
- bargain for (someone or something) with (someone)
- brief (someone) about (someone or something)