English
Noun
taste of one's own medicine
- (idiomatic, usually preceded by a) Harsh treatment inflicted on one who previously inflicted similar or equivalent treatment on others.
- 1916, Rex Ellingwood Beach, Rainbow's End, ch. 27:
- "The man's spirit is evil enough to frighten people away and we will drop stones upon him, so that he can learn the taste of his own medicine."
- 1919, Joseph A. Altsheler, The Sun Of Quebec, ch. 5:
- The Long Tom in the stern of the schooner opened fire . . . and two men were seen to go down. The captain laughed. "That's a taste of their own medicine," he said.
- 2001 June 24, Richard Zoglin, "Hey, Wanna Buy Some Pix?," Time:
- Some stars reportedly even want to investigate the private lives of tabloid editors, to give them a taste of their own medicine.