Whenever we try to keep him out of the business, a bad penny always comes back, dragging old problems with him.

After he sabotaged her promotion, she decided to pay back in someone's own coin by exposing his misconduct to upper management.

To have one's ears pinned back is an old idiom meaning to be severely reprimanded, and my brother learned that the hard way after skipping school.

In the strict boarding school, anyone who broke the rules often had one's ears pinned back by the matron.

When startled, one instinctively presses close to the ground, having one's ears pinned back.

When cornered by a predator, the hare has one's ears pinned back and crouches low to the ground.

When he discovered the betrayal, he paid back in someone's own coin by revealing his rival's secrets.

When provoked, she pays back in someone's own coin without hesitation.

After being pranked for weeks, she started paying back in someone's own coin by swapping his sugar with salt.

After months of effort, the project's apparent gains became one step forward, two steps back for the team when the new regulations wiped out their progress.