return the compliment

verb

Roget 148: interchange, exchange, counterchange^†; bandy, transpose, shuffle, change bands, swap, permute, reciprocate, commute; give and take, return the compliment; play at puss in the corner, play at battledore and shuttlecock; retaliate etc. 718; requite.    rearrange, recombine.    ... show more

Roget 718: retaliate, retort, turn upon; pay, pay off, pay back; pay in one's own coin, pay in the same coin; cap; reciprocate etc. 148; turn the tables upon, return the compliment; give a quid pro quo etc. n., give as much as one takes, give as good as one gets; give and take, exchange fisticuffs; be quits, be even with; pay off old scores.    serve one right, be hoist on one's own petard, throw a stone in one's own garden, catch a Tartar.    ... show more

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