Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for scratch someone's back. Search instead for scratch-someone-s-back.

scratch someone's back

Idioms  

  1. Do someone a favor in hopes that a favor will be returned. For example, I don't mind driving this time—she's scratched my back plenty of times. It also is put as you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, as in If you do the laundry I'll do the cooking—you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. This idiom was first recorded in 1704.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "scratch someone's back" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com