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- have dead to rights
have dead to rights
have someone dead to rights
Fig. to have caught someone red-handed; to have irrefutable evidence about someone's misdeed. We have you dead to rights on this one. The cops had him dead to rights with damning testimony of two eyewitnesses.
have somebody dead to rights
also catch somebody dead to rights found in the act of doing something wrong The police had him dead to rights selling drugs.