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to be had
We need a definition for the usage in "you've been had", which doesn't seem to appear in other tenses. — Hippietrail 09:52, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
No other tenses? You've been had, you were had, they will be had, you will have been had... "have been had" and "were had" are the most common, but others are possible--Vladisdead 09:58, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Yes of course, I guess I meant it doesn't occur in the active but only in the passive. — Hippietrail 10:03, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Alternate had had
Latest comment: 8 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
An alternative sentence could be He once had several operations previously. You could improve on any alternate sentence if one does not like to use "had had" or "that that". Qwertyxp2000 (talk) 10:56, 8 June 2015 (UTC)Reply
The entry for had better simply says that it's idiomatic. And the etymology there refers only to better! So maybe that's a way of indicating that it doesn't correspond to any particular meaning of had???
(Then again, had best has no etymology and isn't tagged as an idiom!)
I'm not sure what the policy would be on Wiktionary of inventing (back-forming?) a meaning of a word from an idiomatic phrase. Evidently the meaning is something like definitely should, for the . I'd feel more comfortable recommending inclusion of a definition under had if I could think of any other usage in this vein. But had worse or had worst, for instance, aren't familiar to me.
Is better or best ever elided? (Or should I say "ellipted?") As in You had not leave me waiting there in the middle of the night, or else you'll be sorry! I can't vouch for it — just speculating. But if so, that would definitely warrant inclusion of a definition under had.
1485, William Caxton, The Preface to Le Morte d'Arthur:
Which be not had in our maternal tongue.
(1) is not an adjective but the passive form of "To trick, to deceive" at have. To my eye, (2) looks like the passive form of the sense "To obtain" at have, but I stand to be corrected if there is some different kind of usage going on here. Mihia (talk) 17:52, 26 June 2021 (UTC)Reply