get the goods on | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic,transitive)To acquire knowledge or developevidencethat reveals the truth about someone'scharacterorbehavior, especiallycriminalbehavior.1914,Peter B. Kyne, chapter 19, inThe Long Chance:"Bob, they'vegot the goods onyou. There's a warrant out."1921,William MacLeod Raine, chapter 10, inTangled Trails:"You'vegot the goods onme. I can't deny I'm the man the police are lookin' for."1922,B. M. Bower, chapter 14, inThe Trail of the White Mule:"With marked money and marked bottles, we ought to be able toget the goods onthat gang."2000April 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 ingetting the goods onthe corporate villains.2002Sept. 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 finallygetting the goods onthe manipulators.

Examples:

EN: New York couldn't quite get the goods on you.
ES: Nueva York no ha podido encontrar ninguna prueba en su contra.
EN: Think what'll mean if we get the goods on Crespi, and he is guilty.
ES: Piensa en lo que significará si pudiéramos atrapar a Crespi. Él es culpable.
EN: I can't get the goods on those crooks.
ES: No puedo conseguir nada sobre esos criminales.
EN: But don't make an arrest until you get the goods on him.
ES: Pero no quiero que arreste a nadie sin pruebas contundentes.
EN: You realize I've been drawing you out on this stuff because you're a threat to me and I want to get the goods on you.
ES: ¿Te das cuenta? He estado sacándote información porque eres amenaza para mí y quiero saber lo que escondes.
EN: And if I came along too, plus my camera and tape recorder, you could smuggle me in and we could get the goods on them for the Brigadier.
ES: Si yo también fuera, con una cámara y una grabadora, podría usted colarme. - Y conseguiríamos pruebas para el brigadier.
EN: So I went along with the plot to get the goods on Skuler.
ES: Así que seguí el juego para obtener más datos de Skuler.
EN: Speaking of litmus tests, assuming we get the goods on him, how do you try him without having it turn into a three-ring circus?
ES: Hablando de referéndum, suponiendo que lleguemos a juicio ¿cómo le procesaremos sin montar un circo?
EN: If one were to get the goods on him, as the underworld phraseology has it, he might well be rendered a negligible force, sir.
ES: Si alguien "le cargara al Sr. Spode el muerto", usando la fraseología del hampa, podría volverse una fuerza insignificante, señor.
EN: Am I out there trying to get the goods on your girlfriend?
ES: ¿Es que estoy allí tratando de averiguar cosas de tu novia?
EN: The rest of you, go get the goods on Stan!
ES: El resto concéntrense en Stan.
EN: -How do we get the goods on karl?
ES: - ¿Cómo conseguiremos las pruebas?
EN: We're trying to get the goods on some smugglers.
ES: Tratamos de descubrir a unos contrabandistas.
EN: I'm really, really glad you wasted your time... and the Montecito's money to get the goods on one of our entertainers.
ES: Me alegra que desperdicies tu tiempo y el dinero del Montecito buscando pruebas contra nuestros artistas.
EN: Her name is Carla Arujo, and for your information she also tried to get the goods on Wells.
ES: Su nombre es Carla Arujo y, para su información, también intentó conseguir los bienes de Wells.

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