English

Verb

fix someone's wagon

1. (idiomatic) To cause injury, distress, or inconvenience to someone, especially as punishment or as a comeuppance.
   • 1946, John Dreibinger, "Yank Errors Help Browns Win, 8 to 2," New York Times, 24 Jul., p. 31:

     When Randy Gumpert went in to hurl the sixth the Yankees immediately fixed his wagon. Successive errors by Steve Souchock and Stirnweiss, the latter making his first misplay of the year at third base, put two runners on and both counted.

   • 2004, Simon English, "Black 'threatened to sue every one of his directors'," telegraph.co.uk, 19 Feb. (retrieved 21 Oct. 2008):

     According to Mr Breeden, Lord Black said that the libel laws in the UK and Canada would permit him to sue and indicated he would go after the houses of board members. . . . "He was going to fix their wagon good," said Mr Breeden.

Synonyms

• take someone down a peg, teach someone a lesson

Translations

See also

• fix someone