A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

give someone a foot up
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give someone a Mickey Finn • take the mickey out
of someone
give someone a Mickey Finn —(Underworld) add a sleeping
drug to smb.’s drink in order to rob, etc.: He heard a claim
that Rudolph was killed by New York waiters who gave him
a Mickey Finn.
take the mickey out of someone —make fun of a person: The
national papers seemed to think that it took the mickey out
of country people, while the Norfolk people thought it
ridiculed Londoners!
give someone a nice time • give someone a hard
time
give someone a nice time —(also: show someone a nice time) 
1
.
be very attentive and friendly to smb.: They are very interested
to hear of my tour and do anything to give me a nice time.
2. is used with a sexual connotation: This was my first visit
and it was fun. A girl named Venassa was very friendly and
gave me a nice time.
give someone a hard time —(also: give someone a rough time)
1
. create a difficult or unpleasant situation for smb.: I started
going out of my way to avoid the people who were giving me
a hard time. 2. rebuke or reprimand a person: I figured it was
an awkward enough episode as it was, and I felt no need to
give him a hard time about it.
give someone a pain • give someone pain
give someone a pain —
1
. cause smb. physical pain: The pred-
nisone gave her a pain in her liver and stomach, she could not
eat, and she lost all her energy. 2. (also: give someone a pain in
the neck) annoy or irritate a person: What would I want to go
up to Florence Leaming’s for? She gives me a pain.
give someone pain —
1
. = give someone a pain 
1
: Then after a
while I sat up, which gave me pain, for I felt as if I had been
beaten all over. 2. make a person feel upset or unhappy: I
think of memories that gave me pain. It reminds me of how
life goes on after a storm.