get the goods on

1. Also, have the goods on. Acquire or possess confidential information about someone, especially of a damaging or incriminating kind. For example, “Trouble is, they've got the goods on me” (Owen Johnson, The Lawrenceville Stories, 1909). [Slang; 1870s] Also see get on one.

Example Sentences

Not only are there spots that you can chase all over town, some have found more permanent homes — residencies, if you will — where you can reliably get the goods on a regular schedule.

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The private investigator Howard hires to get the goods on Chuck's flim-flamming little brother is himself a con man, one who helps set up Howard so entirely in Cliff's and his first mediation meeting with Sandpiper's legal team that taking a settlement is the only choice they have.

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He is indignant that anyone would question the bureau’s motives for opening particular investigations, even while recalling how colleagues expressed their hope that he could get the goods on Clinton.

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This is how the Russians have operated for years -‑ they get the goods on people and then they can get you to do what they want.

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The Interrogation Room Detectives in Grand Rapids, Mich., try to get the goods on suspects in a home-invasion robbery that turned deadly in the debut installment of this true-crime series.

Read more on Los Angeles Times