v. 1 reprimand, chide, reprove, upbraid, criticize, censure, find fault (with), rebuke, reproach, lecture, berate, rate, castigate, take (someone) to task, find fault with, rap (someone's) knuckles, slap (someone's) wrist, Colloq bawl out, dress down, give (someone) hell, give (someone) what for, jump on (someone), jump down (someone's) throat, call (someone) to account, bring (someone) to book, let (someone) have it with both barrels, give (someone) a piece of (one's) mind, give (someone) a tongue-lashing or a talking-to, give (someone) a hard time, rake or haul (someone) over the coals, tell (someone) off, tick (someone) off, skin (someone) alive, call or have (someone) on the carpet, light or rip or tear or lace or sail into (someone), US chew out, jump all over (someone), Brit carpet When their mother scolded them, they began to cry
n. 2 nag, shrew, termagant, virago, fishwife, beldam, harridan, hell-cat, fury, amazon, tigress, Xanthippe, Colloq battleaxe In the old days, they used to take scolds, tie them in a chair at the end of a pole, and dunk them in a pond till they cooled off