beat the shit out of

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

beat the shit out of (third-person singular simple present beats the shit out of, present participle beating the shit out of, simple past beat the shit out of, past participle beaten the shit out of or (colloquial) beat the shit out of)

1. (idiomatic, vulgar) To beat (someone) severely.
   • 1994, Eric Wilson, Strands, →ISBN, page 54:

     He had beat the shit out of her. Almost broke her jaw.

   • 2023 November 24, Rory Carroll, “‘Government is not listening’: anger over immigration spills into riot on Dublin’s streets”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “Just a bunch of scumbags out to wreck Dublin city. The gardaí [police]^[sic] should have free rein to beat the shit out of them.”

2. (idiomatic, vulgar) To defeat (someone) decisively in a fight or a competition.
   • 1999, Reggie Miller with Gene Wojciechowski, I Love Being the Enemy, →ISBN, page 58:

     I think if it was one game, winner take all, and everyone was in shape... I would have to go with Dream Team I. To tell you the truth, I think they would beat the shit out of us.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:clobber

Further reading

• “beat the shit out of”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.