English

Alternative forms

• have the goods on

Verb

get the goods on (someone)

1. (idiomatic) To acquire knowledge or develop evidence that reveals the truth about someone's character or behavior, especially criminal behavior.
   • 1914, Peter B. Kyne, The Long Chance, ch. 19:

     "Bob, they've got the goods on you. There's a warrant out."

   • 1921, William MacLeod Raine, Tangled Trails, ch. 10:

     "You've got the goods on me. I can't deny I'm the man the police are lookin' for."

   • 1922, B. M. Bower, The Trail of the White Mule, ch. 14:

     "With marked money and marked bottles, we ought to be able to get the goods on that gang."

   • 2000 April 6, Alexander Walker, "Erin Brockovich" (film review), London Evening Standard (UK) (retrieved 22 Nov 2011):

     And the film shows how mother-care can be more convincing than a legal brief in getting the goods on the corporate villains.

   • 2002 Sept. 26, "California Culprits" (editorial), New York Times (retrieved 22 Nov 2011):

     [T]he state's flawed deregulation scheme practically invited unscrupulous behavior. Still, it's encouraging that Washington is finally getting the goods on the manipulators.

See also

• incriminate