get the worst of it
Also, have the worst of it. Be defeated, experience a disadvantage, or suffer the most harm. For example, In any argument Joe usually gets the worst of it, or If we play the last three games as scheduled, our team is bound to have the worst of it, or The car got the worst of it, and no one was hurt. These phrases survive many older ones (such as go to the worst and come by the worst) in which worst is used in the sense of “defeat,” a usage dating from about 1500. Also see get the better (best) of.
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RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- get the picture,
- get the runaround,
- get the sack,
- get the show on the road,
- get the upper hand,
- get thee behind me, satan,
- get thee to a nunnery,
- get theirs,
- get there,
- get through
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.