tell you what
English
Alternative forms
- I'll tell you what
Phrase
tell you what
- (colloquial) Introduces a compromise or arrangement where the interlocutor has some benefit or advantage.
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- My lord, I'll tell you what;/ If my young lord your son have not the day,/ Upon mine honour, for a silken point/ I'll give my barony: never talk of it.
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